evil swans

[secretsquiz]

does anyone know of anyone who's ever had their arm broken by a swan?

this has been the cause of much debate among my friends recently!

[Gilli]

I think swans' reputation is much maligned personally ... like most animals, if you treat them with respect (especially if they have cygnets) they won't get aggressive.

I used to walk along a brook in the village where I used to live quite regularly and was able to see a swan family nesting, then see the cygnets themselves. The whole family would take bread from my hand, but display defensive behaviour if anyone walking a dog came past as if to say to the bemused dog "just you try it ...." !

[Rabelais]

The answer I guess is who knows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0%2C5753 %2C-24008%2C00.html

[libertie]

While feeding some swans and ducks at our local Botanic gardens last summer my 3 year old granddaughter was nipped on the side by a swan, not sure why as there were no cygnets or anything nearby, perhaps she just walked to close to it, who knows!!

Tried asking the swan why, but it just ignored me and went of into the pond for a swim!!!

[Gilli]

The worst waterfowl in my opinion are geese - especially the big white ones with blue eyes and orange beaks. They peck your calves if they even think you've got something to feed them with.

My 7 year old stepdaughter was chased shrieking for 200 yards round Stanborough Lake - in Welwyn (much to the amusement of the rest of us 'cos she had a slice of bread in her hand) by a gaggle of about 40 geese, all honking and squawking. The poor thing "hid" behind a bush only for them to follow her there, round and round, a la a Benny Hill style chase gone wrong. Her older brother still thinks it's the best thing that ever happened to her.

[Chillum]

Geese are definitely evil. After leaving art-school I was making ends meet by selling cable tv, door-to-door. One potential customer was being very belligerent, when a flock of migrating geese, passing overhead, decided to drop their entire load of goose-sh!t all over both of us. How they managed this impressive feat of synchronised bowel evacuation, I'll never know, but if it came from a single goose, it must have been the size of a small aircraft. The stench was unbelievable, I could smell it for days afterwards. Having been invited into the house to clean myself up, I returned to my car in the darkness, went to open the door and covered my hand in the same goose sh!t, the bnggers had covered my car aswell. Never made the sale, resigned next day.

[Quizmonster]

I prefer Jamesie Cotter's idea, as expressed in 'Rab C Nesbitt', that one blow of a sheep's wing can break a man's arm! (As a Govan man, he had little idea of the realities of country life.)

[secretsquiz]

i know what you mean about geese!

i was on a boating holiday last week and a mate of mine was driving the boat with expert precision - we went under a bridge and on the bank at the other side, waiting for us were a couple of big white geese.

they squared up to our boat and started honking like crazy, causing my mate to panic and swerve the boat across the canal straight into the side of moored boat!

the owner was sitting on top of his boat, but luckily saw the funny side of it!

[Cetti]

This same question was asked on the BBC Birds site a couple of years ago and many posters had in fact known of people that had had their arms broken...but it was always when the birds were either defending their territories or had young, so keeping your distance at this time is just plain common sense.

Not all Swans mate for life either -  divorce and adultery is not unknown!

[Artful]

I could imagine that a swan would have enough force with its wing to break an arm. A few years back one of my geese was playing and at one point swung his (he was called Missus but we found out too late that he was a gander!) wing out and hit my shin bone. Crikey! I thought he had broken it - it hurt like crazy never mind the bump afterwards! Missus was very upset as he started rubbing his neck up and down my leg!

I find geese can be very loyal and affectionate but perhaps that depends how long you spend with them, how long you have been acquainted (!!?). Whenever Missus saw me sitting down he would come belting up honking all the way and try to sit on my knee! BTW that's how I discovered that they also possessed retracting claws - honest!