(Spirit Lake)– A warning to area hunters: know what you’re shooting at before you pull the trigger.
Gary Owen, an enforcement officer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, tells KUOO news two trumpeter swans have been shot recently by hunters. Both birds died.
Owen says the first incident took place just west of Spirit Lake during the second duck opener. The person responsible in that incident turned himself in. The other incident, which remains under investigation, took place sometime between October 13th and 15th on Silver Lake near Lake Park. Officers found that bird still alive a couple days later and took it to Orphaned and Injured Wildlife in Spirit Lake. The swan died during an operation. Authorities are still looking for the person responsible for shooting the swan. Owen says it was shot by a goose hunter…based on the type and quantity of ammunition found in the bird.
Orphaned and Injured Wildlife and the D-N-R’s TIP (turn in poachers) program are offering a one-thousand dollar reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible. Anyone with information should contact the D-N-R at the State Fish Hatchery in Orleans. Shooting a trumpeter swan is a criminal violation punishable by a 145-dollar fine along with civil damages of 1,500-dollars.
Owen says hunters are solely accountable for any mistaken identity of a species they shoot at. He says it’s very hard to mistake a goose for a swan…saying swans are much larger and have distinctive colorations.
