This day in history: Anthony Hensley, 37, was killed by a swan on this day (April 14) in 2012 while kayaking across a pond at a residential complex in Des Plaines, Illinois. After getting too close to the bird's nest, the swan attacked him, threw him out of the kayak and prevented him from surfacing; he ultimately drowned.
"According to ornithologists, the swan's aggressive reaction is typical for the species, the mute swan, when defending a nest.
The males are fierce in defense of their nests, especially during the spring nesting season - April to June.
In April 2010, a swan on the River Cam in England made the news after repeatedly attacking rowers. It was nicknamed Mr Asbo, named after the Anti-Social Behaviour Orders issued by UK courts at the time. Two years later, there are still calls for it to be removed from the river, as the seasonal attacks go on.
But such incidents are very rare, says John Huston of the Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, where there are 1,000 swans but no recorded attacks on humans in the colony's 600-year history." Source
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