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.

Bowness is what it is.........I visit a lot as I live locally. It keeps the kids happy, it's tacky as hell but that's exactly what we go there for........the penny arcades in Bowness and a few hours on the tree top nets at Brockhole then heading to chocobar for a huge stack of waffles is a fair pay off for being dragged up hill and down dale by us oldies. If anyone patronised me with advice of somewhere a bit less hideous I'd be telling them to sod off.

I'm currently sat in the Albert as it goes, with a nice cold pint waiting for my tea !

Orange 😧

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!

Good for you 👍

I find many Chinese and Japanese tourists incredibly insular. They're in their own little bubble of each otherness, and rarely interact outside of it.

People 'clapped' at this awkward scene between strangers? They clapped for you but didn't intervene at all themselves?

I often read about spontaneous rounds of applause on the internet but have yet to witness one in real life.

What an affirmation. Yet you're still not sure if you were reasonable. Ok^^ then.

The only time I've seen an unexpected round of applause between some strangers is when the plane lands. That always baffles me 😳

LoseLooseLucy and even more baffling when people clap at the cinema, after the film ends

At least the pilot can hear them I suppose!

Yes Worra, I've heard it at the cinema too, so weird!

I had no idea this happened. How utterly ridiculous and stupid. I feel angry just thinking about it. I NEVER confront anyone but even I would have said something.

There's no way that Japanese tourists would do that so ybvu for being racist

Oh so Gimel I made it up just to be racist and dispite others on here saying they have seen it too. So we must all be racists them or did you not read the whole thread with others saying they have seen it too

I used to work in Japan and agree they are unlikely to have been Japanese. It is a little bit.. well not racist exactly but not great to assume all East Asian people are Japanese.

It’s the first round of applause in public I have heard as well. It was an old gent and 2 old ladies on a bench

Shout out to OrangeJellySpread for the comment at 15:48:59
For possibly the most fucking racist comment I've ever seen on here.
You may have just as well said they all look the same, Japanese and Chinese have different appearances so do Koreans, it's really easy all you have to do is look at their individual faces.

YABU. Should have stayed well back and let maw and paw swan rip them apart.

If happens all of the time there.
Its funny when the swans go on the turn and chase them, but the swans should never be put in that situation.

YANBU

I grew up in new forest and people always feed the donkeys which just encouraged them into the roads causing accidents:(

It sounds like well past time they had signs put up. They could do a sign with a drawing and then also have the warning in a few languages.

If they were Japanese the odds of them understanding what you’re on about are slim (most Japanese people I’ve met have wonderful written English but quite limited spoken/listening English skills - and I’ve met a ton in a previous job).

Perhaps their tour bus had their flag on it? That’s not uncommon where I live (near Vancouver BC). And aside from facial features (which are pretty obviously different) Japanese tourists tend to dress very differently from Chinese tourists, who dress very differently from Korean tourists, etc.

I hate birds and live in a seaside town gulls are flying rats. However I could never see an animal hurt or distressed! Well done OP swans are bad ass as you said shame it didn't hiss at them or bite.
Who takes a selfie with a baby swan jesus 😔

My dad knows some Japanese language he worked out there and recognised some of it. I should Imgaine most of the tourists were Chinese but this group were Japanese.

And before people say my dad should have addressed them in Japanese he had not used it in years and would not feel confident

Sorry for the drip feed but I just wanted to clarify how we knew they were Japanese.

It like any other country you get mostly nice people and a few idiots.

I like bowness. Sure it’s not the most beautiful part of the lakes but it ticks a lot of boxes and is good as a base

Last year when we were there we saw a Chinese tourist try to our a seagull on her head for a selfie then, when it flew back down to the floor, KICK it in rage. We were going to say something but a big group of people got there first.

We also witnessed two Chinese tourists actually cause traffic by the church to grind to a halt because they were standing in the middle of the road to get a selfie with the wedding that was going on in the background.

The selfie culture in east Asia is even madder than it is over here!

Good for you!!

I once witnessed someone from the wildlife trust kick a duck (shortly before asking me for financial support) so I reported her. Absolutely no excuse for cruelty.

Don’t Brits go to China and take pics with drugged tigers etc? Equally barbaric. Every culture has its idiots.

I live about 30 miles from Bowness/ Windermere and sadly this happens every day .
I agree that notices should be put up in several languages informing people to leave wildlife alone.