Truly unbelievable….New York’s swans are still not out of harm’s way. We have a #JEER today for Governor Andrew Cuomo who yet again vetoed a bill that would have saved mute swans from slaughter by the state Department of Environmental Conservation which ridiculously views the birds as “an invasive species.”

The bill would have required the DEC to give priority to “non-lethal management techniques” when dealing with mute swans and mandated public hearings before the state made any decisions. Despite public outcry, more than 8,000 comments by New Yorkers to the DEC about this cruel and backwards plan and having the bill pass in both the Senate and the Assembly, Cuomo refused to pass the bill — throwing his trust to an agency that consults and covets bird-hunters for its direction and seeks input from groups like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ducks Unlimited, the state Fish and Wildlife Management Board, Humane Society of the U.S., New York State Conservation Council, the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, and USDA Wildlife Services.

Friends of Animals will be launching a new approach to challenge the DEC’s disastrous, convoluted, plans which treat beautiful birds and other wildlife as trash to be eradicated.