BRICK – The story of Alfie the Swan began some time ago in the waterfront community of Seawood Harbor, when a jet skier hit a docked boat at night and blamed a swan, who he said had been chasing him. He reported that there was an aggressive swan to the authorities.
“We have RING video that shows that’s simply not true,” said Rochester Drive resident Irene Almeida. “There was no swan around.”
The US Department of Agriculture sent some field workers out to observe the male swan, (named Alfie by local residents) and they deemed the bird as aggressive and said it would be captured and euthanized.
Over a dozen residents of Seawood Harbor organized to try and stop the euthanization of the swan since many said that the bird was just trying to protect its nest and its six cygnets (swan babies).
Almeida said she has seen jet skiers torment the bird by circling it at a high speed until he flaps his wings and screeches.
“Then they video record it for fun,” she said from the end of her street where she gathered with a group of her neighbors recently. They were watching the swan family and trying to get answers about when the USDA was planning to capture or kill the swan.
Resident Don Defilipo, an Army veteran of 24 years, said he saw angry behavior from the swan when people were throwing rocks, cans and water bottles at it.
“Once the cygnets leave the nest, he’s not as aggressive,” Defilipo said. “When people aren’t trying to hurt him, he’s docile.”
Seawood Harbor resident of 35 years, Anna Mayer, said there is only one swan family in the nature preserve there and she has been watching them for years.
“We’ve never experienced this kind of hogwash,” she said. “The nest is right across from my house, and I’ve watched them go through all kinds of weather. When there’s a storm, the male picks up grass to protect the nest,” she said. “I’m devastated, my daughter is devastated and so is my granddaughter. This is unfathomable.”
Seawood Harbor resident Phil Ciprello said he has seen the male swan act aggressively against a stand up paddleboarder, but “I’m not looking for it to get killed. Just let it be,” he said.
Irene Almeida and her husband, Tony, offered to pay to have the swan family relocated and for their upkeep, but the USDA said they do not relocate swans.
That’s true, said NJ Wildlife Services State Director for the USDA Aaron Guikema.
“As I understand it, a potentially aggressive swan was chasing a jet skier,” Guikema said in a recent phone call.
“Our staff looked last week…and it was behaving in an aggressive fashion. We’re still working on the details, but the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife has a protocol set up,” he said.
New Jersey has somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 swans, and every now and then “one of these situations pops up and there’s not a whole lot of options,” he said.
Relocating a swan does little to change aggressive tendencies, Guikema said.
“We’re still determining the details. I know some residents wanted to relocate the swans but it’s up to the State of NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife,” he said. “They would have to issue a permit.”
The euthanization of the male swan was not imminent, Guikema said. They do not announce the event since it “has the potential for conflict,” he added.
Alfie’s story has an unexpected ending.
On Friday, July 9, someone reported seeing a swan with fishing line wrapped around its neck in the Seawood Harbor vicinity. It was rescued and removed by the Popcorn Park Zoo in Forked River, which is an animal refuge for abandoned, injured, ill, exploited, abused or elderly animals.
“We’ll never know for sure if it’s Alfie, they all look the same,” said Almeida two days later. “But since this is the second day that he hasn’t shown up with the family, we’re assuming it’s him. The babies and the mom are here…which breaks my heart because now they’re vulnerable to predators without Alfie.”
She learned that the rescued swan is eating and is stable at the Popcorn Park Zoo.
