To have told these tourists to leave the swans and ducks along

[Want2727]

Prob going to be accused of being racist but here goes
Am currently on holiday in the Lake District in Bowness. As anyone who has been to Bowness knows it attracts lots of Japanese tourists which is obviously great for the area.

Was sat down on a bench feeding the ducks and swans with my sun and about 20 Japanese people walked up and started to try and grab at the ducks and swans to get a picture with them. The last straw was when a swan wandered up with 5 cygnets and one Japanese women grabs a cygnet, and picks it up for a photo. The swan started to give chase and she leaps up on a wall where the swan can’t get to her
I marched up and said in a stern voice “put that cygnet down” the poor cygnet by this time was in a right state.

She looks at me and was going to ignore me till me husband came up behind me and said to her again “put the cygnet down”. She then did. A couple of people watching clap
Her husband/partner came up to us and started shouting at us in Japanese. I just looked at him and said “the swans and ducks are to be looked at not touched it is cruel”
They all then storm off in their group towards the boats.

As we walked past the boat office 5 minutes later they are pointing at us and gesturing at us to one of the boat ticket staff. He comes over and we told him what happened and he said “it’s always happening, a duck was left lame when when a Japanese lady picked one up and then basically chucked it down once a photo has been taken.
I just want to say I know Britain people can also be dicks when it comes to animals but surley something needs to be done to let the toursts know it’s not acceptable to pick up the ducks/ swans/ geese if it keeps happening.

Our neighbour has swans in her part of the river (it runs through a few gardens locally and she's encouraged them). We got a puppy last summer and he escaped into their garden and my first thought was that he would be killed by the swans (he is terrified of them and left well alone, despite being the stupidest dog I've ever met, thank goodness). They're bloody ferocious creatures when they've cygnets nearby.

YANBU at all to chastise anyone behaving that way. It's not about nationality, but about manners and decency. Bollock all the swan botherers.

I saw a horrid kid chasing one of the Peacocks at Warwick Castle once - it was a really hot day and it was getting really stressed - I told him off and he ignored me - the Peacock suddenly thought 'ang on a minute - I'm a Peacock' and turned around and went for him 😂 best thing I've ever seen. A mother suddenly appeared complaining about vicious birds then.

Well done OP I would have gone mad at them.

Thank you for sticking up for our beautiful birds. You are not raciest.

Well done OP - the birds need protecting!
Incredible the way some people behave towards animals though. I work in a special school and we took the (very young) children for a picnic in a local park with swans, geese, ducks etc during the heatwave and they all knew without having to be told to leave well enough alone!

Suggest multi-lingual signs to the council. You handled her well and she is lucky the parent didn’t attack her.

"A friend of mine once rolled her hamster down the stairs in its ball over and over again until it died."

That friendship would end. Permanently.

I'm amazed all she got was a telling off from a human! We have swans on a loch near by us and the first year we lived here, my daughter and her pony were chased away from the edge of the loch by a male, just for going too close to the nest, which was on the water! Swan came swooping in from the loch, screaming like a banshee! Pony got the fright of her life and bolted, she is still nervous about going that route now. Although none of us will ride up there during nesting season, we know how to take a telling! Well done, OP, it is disgusting seeing animals manhandled for selfies and unfortunately, it seems to be getting more common. Social media seems to strike some people with all-encompassing tunnel vision. Even when they are not on their devices they can't seem to look at anything without wondering how many likes they will get for it. The desire to get that post that gets the most likes and shares seems to blot out everything else. Its a very sad way to live.

Swans are bloody vicious animals. Absolutely beautiful, but you don't want to anger them!
DH and I went to feed some at our local river. There weren't any restrictions on feeding. One crept up behind DH and reared up, it was almost as tall as him. It just wanted the food!

If you want a swan overload, head to the Abbotsbury swannery. You can even help feed them. It's pretty amazing.

YANBU but should you have been feeding the ducks and swans?

Absolutely keep feeding the ducks and swans especially in the winter :-

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/14/campaign-against-feeding-ducks-bread-starving-birds-warns-queens/amp/

Oh and well done, OP 👏🏻

I was feeding them bird seed sold in the toreat information shop which is always do when I feed the ducks. I also make my own bird food mix for when I feed local ducks and birds.
I'm in Windermere all the time and I've NEVER seen this
Well other people on this thread have seen this and I am also in the lakes all the time but first time I have seen it but according to the boat people it is a regular things.

OrangeJellySpread, I’m sure you didn’t take mean that comment to sound as racist as it did. Japanese, Korean and Chinese people look different, and the languages sound very different.

Yanbu; your reaction was appropriate.

Good on you!!

You were definitely right to say something.

However, hearing your story, I’m almost certain the tourists were not Japanese. I’ve lived in Japan for a very long time and I’ve never seen anyone manhandle wildlife in the way you describe. There are swans in Japan and nobody would dream of doing anything like that. In addition, Japanese tourists are very reserved in general and mindful of the impression they give of their country and culture. They certainly wouldn’t start talking back to whoever told them to stop.

I imagine they were Chinese but it is probably wise just to call them East Asian. If their ethnicity is at all relevant...

I bloody knew this would be Bowness.

There have been loads of issues with people trying to pick up swans and in one case put one in a picnic bag / large shopper bag so it could be held up for a kid to pose with. I went ape shit and they really didn't see what the issue was.

Every time it's been foreign people (( I'm on a local Facebook page )) I think the issue is different attitudes towards animals plus the fact they think the swans are tame. When they certainly aren't. They're also at risk of being injured.

I don't know what the answer is, I can fully imagine barriers will be erected one day as so many birds have been hurt. It will sadden me as I stood round there as a child feeding the birds and being chased by swans, my own DC did and I want future generations to be able to.enjoy it without restriction too.

Large signs in Chinese saying “do not touch the ducks and swans” would be a good start.

Manjuu in a few languages. And threats of a hefty fine. Ideally there'd be cameras too. Last year there was an issue with swans and signets coming into Bowness itself thanks to the no bread campaign. A lot of people who may have scattered their leftover picnics no longer did and many starved...........I lost count of the number of kids I bellowed at told off whilst their parents gormlessly looked on as they chased signets or tried to stamp on them. ..... It was heartbreaking. :(

Thank goodness for people like you, it makes me so angry to hear about things like this.

Agree with the multilingual signs and fines. Could the council issue fines?

I would be surprised if they were Japanese tbh. I have several Japanese friends and they all say how polite and reserved Japanese people are.
I would not be surprised if they were Chinese. Half my family are of Chinese descent and they all roll their eyes at Chinese tourists. It is just a huge cultural difference.
In a certain part of the country there was a situation with ducks being taken from the local park for the purpose of being cooked and eaten.
That was tricky to deal with.

Definitely not being unreasonable. I'd have done the same.

YABVU visiti YABVU visiting Bowness, their are so many far nicer places in the Lake District🤭. However I do recommend visiting Blackwell, the superb Arts and Crafts house to the South of the town.

I was going to say this. But want brave enough. Definitely agree about Blackwell. It's stunning.

YANBU. There's a bird garden fairly near to where I live where they have certain types of bird that are allowed to roam around on the footpaths. When I was there a few years ago, I saw a little boy, probably about 3 years old, chasing a jungle fowl round the lawn and trying to grab it - it was obviously terrified and was trying to squeeze under the fence, but it wouldn't fit and it was getting more and more panicked. And the kid's whole family, parents and grandparents, was just standing there chuckling indulgently. They obviously weren't going to stop him, so I sharply told him to leave the poor bird alone because it was frightened. He burst into tears and I got an earful from his ignorant twat of a father, but I couldn't care less what people like that think of me. I'd do it again!

Are you seriously asking if you were unreasonable?

Did the round of applause you received not indicate that you weren't?

@NovemberWitch
OrangeJellySpread, I’m sure you didn’t take mean that comment to sound as racist as it did. Japanese, Korean and Chinese people look different, and the languages sound very different.

I didn't mean it to sound horrible at all. I lived in East Asia for most of my life, and unless you've been there, it's difficult to know the difference.

I also think the tourists are most likely Chinese and not Japanese. It is the fact that many Chinese tourists are badly mannered. Even their own government acknowledges this. Best put the sign in Chinese IMO.