aibu to think they knew stealing two swans from the park to eat is illegal?

[inneedofsomehelpplz]

watched emergency animal rescue & the rspca were called as two men were seen taking two swans home from the park - the rspca went to the house & eventually someone turned up to translate. they stated that they bought birds to release in the park for their kids to play with. so why was there a swans head in the bin along with feathers & poor swans were cooking in a pot. if they didnt think theyd doneanything wrong, why lie?

swans are amazing creatures & aibu to think that they shouldve been arrested & charged?

[digerd]

Swans are usually in pairs and mate for life. At this time of year they are still rearing and protecting their young. Even experienced rspca workers have difficulty catching a swan.

We have a widowed swan with 6 cygnets on our canal bank this year and wonder what happened to its life-long mate .
The males do sometimes fight to the death over territory. Females do not get involved as, sensibly, stay back protecting their young. I was watching 2 families once with the males just circling round each other with shows of machoness. The female opposite my garden got fed up and took her babies back to the nest to await the return of her mate

[nicename]

At least they didn't start whinging about it being their 'right' to eat swan.

I can't for the life of me think how anyone could look at a swan and think 'hmmm, bigger than a chicken...'

[Szeli]

william can't say I've ever noticed peacocks at the uni - maybe there's been a couple of massive feasts recently..

[BlingBang]

At least they ate them rather than just killed them for fun. We had two Swans killed in a local park just for the hell of it. Think they're were cygnets left behind as well.

[SubliminalMassaging]

Ratters I used to live opposite a private fishing lake and exactly the same thing happened there as well! They had to put signs up in Polish!

[specialsubject]

I'm rather impressed that they managed to 'take swans home'. They are BIG and aggressive.

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Birdsgottafly - you're not quite right re: ignorance being a defence. For most crimes there needs to be an element of intention to do whatever it is the crime involves - it's technically called the mens rea. However that is not the same thing as knowing that what you're doing is against the law. So for example the mens rea for theft is an intention to permanently deprive the person of whatever it is you've taken. Provided you meant to do that and did in fact take the item, you'd be guilty of theft even if (unlikely I realise!) you didn't realise that it was a crime.

End of pedantic law lecture. ..

[PasswordProtected]

It is swan upping. You tup rams to show which ewe has been covered ;-)
I have eaten swan, it was many years ago & the swan in question had been obtained legally. It tasted like a cross between goose and chicken.
Swans can be quite vicious, if they feel threatened, and it is best not to upset them if you are at the sharp end of an eight as you have nowhere to go - other than for a fast swim!

[Crumbledwalnuts]

It does take a while to fit in to your new home and new country. But you begin (I've done this) by finding out how things work in your new home, and you respect that, not just the legal / illegal stuff but the cultural norms as well. It's just what you do when you go to live abroad. Isn't that obvious?

[AlexReidsLonelyBraincell]

Halal swan?! Novel.

[RattersReward]

I have first hand knowledge of Eastern Europeans illegally taking wild fowl and fish from lakes in a country park for the purpose of eating them.

The fish were from specific fishing lakes where everybody else had fishing licences and permits and returned the fish to the lakes before they went home. The Eastern Europeans fished at the lakes without the licences etc and took all the fish home. They emptied the lakes in about a fortnight.


The wild fowl were caught because the Eastern Europeans disturbed their nests, the adult birds swam over to protect the nests, were caught, had their wings broken and were fairly brutally killed.

I should think that it was obvious to the Eastern Europeans that in this instance their conduct was illegal in this country. In fact the problem was so extensive the police were brought in by the country park staff.

[ParsingFancy]

When the ducks went missing from FIL's local park, it was the swans wot dunnit!

He saw the murder being committed. Little fluffy ducklings and all.

[Booooom]

Someone told me that squirrel meat tasted nutty - I think they were taking the piss though. Probably tastes like chicken.

[inneedofsomehelpplz]

i dont really find it funny tbh - not sure what language they were speaking so for all i know they might have slit the swans throat for halal meat which is barbaric. it doesnt matter what they sodding well do/eat in their own country - if they want to live here then abide by ourrules/laws! & yes, what if they had signets? & by the look of their house, they had a bob or two.

[nicename]

I was chased by a swan once. It was after a baguette that I had in my grocery bag. I don't like them evil buggers with their beady eyes.

I have often wondered what squirrel tastes like though. Pigeon has too many bones. Frogs legs taste like chicken and horse isn't very nice. Haven't tried snails (I do have some standards).

[ihavenonameonhere]

Boooooom

Yes a swan can break a mans arm

Adrian Mole reference ;)

[SilverApples]

Swans also co-parent, so if they had a late brood this year those cygnets are on their own.
How can anyone think 'Good, well done' at the random slaughter of wildlife?
Would you think the same if you were mugged for your shopping by a hungry person who was struggling and saw you had loads of food? Or decided that your pet bunnies and piggies were suitable foraging materials?
It's a crime to kill a swan.

[Latara]

I like swans even though they are nasty angry birds when provoked (or just hungry).

Bad people for eating them.

[AlexReidsLonelyBraincell]

Well some Albanians speak French, and duck a l'orange is a French dish so I can see how he came to his tenuous link, alongside a large dose of Daily Mail exposure.
How are people not embarrassed to air their stupid views in public?

TeWi I am off down the canal later to feed the geese some tiger bread, I shall let you know of the culinary results.
not really, those geese are proper hard and scary and bully me into feeding them by flapping and staring at me with their beady little eyes.

We do have a fearless drake who was absolutely refusing to move for them the other day, he was brilliant.
I often make the dc walk home from school that way just so we can visit and watch them. I really ought to get out more.

[Crumbledwalnuts]

"Swans mate for life, so good on them for taking both if them"

Good on em? seriously?

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Ooh look - swan burger recipe

[Mimishimi]

Argh, tautology. Sorry

[Mimishimi]

SanityClauseWe don't have pheasants in Australia. Or did he move to Australia because of going to jail over pheasant poaching in the UK?

OP: That's disgusting. i am sure they knew they were doing the wrong thing. Similarly, we've had ducks go missing from our local duckponds in similar incidents.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

Alex!

I feel the same about Canadian geese. Watching the ducks face off with them over territory is hilarious though.

What do you reckon, would bread fed Canadian goose be tasty?

[ZolaBuddleia]

I'm afraid not, Alex, he muttered the word "Albanians" in a rather dark fashion.