VILLAGE OF MANLIUS – During the March 12 Village of Manlius Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Paul Whorrall reported that he and Deputy Mayor/Trustee Hank Chapman had a disheartening meeting the previous week regarding the future of the village’s longstanding tradition of maintaining and breeding mute swans at the Manlius Swan Pond.
The meeting, which was with New York State Assemblyman Al Stirpe and a representative of NYS Senator John Mannion’s office, was arranged after the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a license allowing the village to keep its four mute swans but prohibiting them from reproducing.
Displeased with the conditions of the license, the village contacted the offices of Stirpe and Mannion, as well as other elected representatives, in hopes that they might be willing to try to help overturn the DEC’s decision.
Whorrall and Chapman expressed that they were both disappointed by the outcome of the meeting.
“I think Assemblyman Stirpe listened,” said Chapman. “He said he would talk to the [DEC] on our behalf, but he said, ‘It’s unlikely I can change her mind.’ The woman from Senator Mannion’s office was argumentative, and [instead] of trying to advocate for us, she was advocating for the DEC against us. It was disappointing. [We] really didn’t get anywhere.”
Background
The swan has long been a symbol of the Village of Manlius community.
The village was gifted native trumpeter swans back in 1905 and has been caring for swans ever since.
With permission from the DEC, Manlius has most recently maintained mute swans, which are non-native and considered an invasive species.
The Manlius Swan Pond is currently home to the two male and two female offspring of mute swans Faye and Manny.
Last Memorial Day weekend, the four cygnets and their mother were stolen from the Manlius Swan Pond. The cygnets were recovered, but Faye was killed and eaten. Manny, her mate, was ultimately removed from the pond for being aggressive towards the cygnets following their reintroduction.
Until the end of last year, the village had a DEC permit allowing it to maintain two adult mute swans under the condition that any cygnets born to the swans were removed from the pond.
Traditionally, the babies were born in the spring and remained in the pond until the end of the year, at which time they were sent to Pennsylvania.
After the village was granted its license, the DEC adopted the New York State Mute Swan Management Plan to try to control the population growth and range expansion of feral mute swans, which the state says can cause a variety of problems, including aggressive behavior towards people, destruction of submerged aquatic vegetation, displacement of native wildlife species, degradation of water quality, and potential hazards to aviation.
The objective of part of the plan is to prevent the reproduction of captive mute swans.
On July 11, 2023, following Faye’s death, DEC representatives met with the village board and explained that the state supports the village continuing to have swans, but to remain consistent with its management plan, it is encouraging the discontinuation of the village’ mute swan breeding program.
The officials said they recognized that Manlius is a responsible caretaker of captive swans, but once the Manlius-born cygnets are transferred out of state, the DEC cannot guarantee that they will remain captive.
Because the village’s permit was still active at the time of the meeting, the DEC allowed Faye and Manny’s babies to be returned to the swan pond and kept temporarily.
However, because the permit did not allow possession of cygnets past the end of the year, the DEC encouraged the village to apply for a new license. The decision on which permit or license to apply for was left up to the village.
In a July 14, 2023, letter to Whorrall, Dereth Glance, acting regional director for DEC Region 7 and deputy commissioner of remediation and materials management, outlined the village’s options.
She explained that the permit the village had, which allowed for the possession of unsterilized adult swans and the management of their unsterilized offspring, was “no longer a valid approach.”
The letter says the DEC’s preferred alternative was for the village to apply for a license to collect and possess two same-sex mute swans.
“We will consider special conditions that allow the village to keep all four cygnets for a period of one year,” the letter says. “After December 2024, the two cygnets not retained must be removed and permanently sterilized prior to transfer as a condition of the new license.”
Glance wrote that if the village wanted to continue breeding swans, the DEC would recommend applying for a breeders license for native trumpeter swans.
Another option was a license to collect and possess a pair of opposite-sex swan cygnets to be sterilized before reaching sexual maturity.
According to the letter, that option was slightly less preferable due to concerns that swan sterilization, while possible, is challenging and potentially risky for the bird, and it requires a specialty veterinarian with experience to treat the animal safely and effectively.
Glance concluded her letter by presenting an option to pursue “if the village insists upon maintaining an invasive species breeding program.”
That avenue would require all offspring to be surgically sterilized before transferring them out of state with proof of sterilization from a veterinarian provided.
The final option is the one the village opted to pursue.
In January, Whorrall applied to the DEC for a license to collect or possess mute swans for education/exhibition. The application was for the village’s current four adult mute swans, plus annual cygnet production to be disposed of via transfer to the village’s biologist, Michael Bean.
Included in the application was the condition that the four offspring of Faye and Manny would remain on the Manlius Swan Pond for another 12 to 14 months. At that point, if breeding occurred, the village would keep one pair of breeding swans and remove the other pair. Any cygnets produced at the pond would be surgically sterilized before being transported out of state.
According to the mayor, the application included everything the DEC had requested and a few conditions that the village wanted to see.
Whorrall pointed out that, per the DEC’s request, the village agreed to sterilize any baby swans before transporting them out of state, and it agreed to construct an educational exhibit area illustrating the swan pond habitat and associated wildlife.
“[We said] we would like to keep the four swans that we have there now — the babies — and see if they mated,” Whorrall said. “If they mated, then we would keep the two that mated and get rid of the other two. If not, we wanted to keep all four. If they don’t mate, let us keep all four swans, because what is the difference? They are not going anywhere, and if they are not mating, then why can’t we keep them?”
On Feb. 9, the DEC issued Manlius a license that allows the village to keep its four mute swans for education/exhibition but prohibits them from reproducing.
The license specifies that by Aug. 31, 2024, the village must have either had all four swans surgically sterilized or completed the transfer of two swans so that only one gender remains in the pond.
March 12 swan discussion
During the village board’s March meeting, Whorrall expressed his anger and confusion about the DEC introducing stipulations that had not been made initially in its July 14 letter.
“They had told us that we could keep the four babies — they are not really babies anymore — until the end of December,” Whorrall said. “When they sent the permit back, they said we had to remove them by August. In that first letter, they said that we could continue to have babies, we’d just have to sterilize them [before] they were moved to a different location. They came back and said, for whatever reason, ‘No, you’re not going to be able to do that.’”
The mayor also expressed frustration about the meeting he attended with Chapman the previous week.
He said that during their discussion, he shared the village’s history with swans, the future that was envisioned for its four current swans, and its recent dealings with the DEC.
He added that he also tried to convey that he feels the village is being unfairly punished for the actions of those responsible for killing Faye
According to Whorrall, the member of Mannion’s staff seemed unsympathetic to the village’s loss and current situation and uninterested in attempting to help.
“We went there looking for help, thinking that that is what senators and assemblymen and congressmen are for — to help the people, not to help the government; they’re there to help the people with the government,” Whorrall said. “Assemblyman Stirpe worked his hardest, I think, as best he could do.”
Later in the discussion, the mayor said he felt like he was letting his community down.
Trustee Tom Pilewski said he thought that idea was “crazy.”
“You’ve said right from the get-go what the plan was, and you have not wavered from that, and if you are going to continue to get poor results from the DEC, that’s not because of lack of effort,” Pilewski said.
Trustee Janice Abdo-Rott proposed that the mayor try contacting Mannion directly. She also suggested writing a letter to the governor.
Chapman commented that he knows Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon is trying to help the village.
“He doesn’t have a role in the state, obviously, but he is influential,” he said. “So, we will see where that goes.”
The village board concluded the conversation with a brief discussion about potential next steps, such as engaging the media to get the word out about the current situation with the swans.
In other news
At the beginning of the meeting, the board held a public hearing regarding a special use permit request from Hospitality Restaurant Group for the former fire station property at 2-4 Stickley Dr.
The applicant is seeking a special use permit for a drive-through to accommodate its proposed Taco Bell Cantina restaurant, which would incorporate both the drive-through component and sit-down dining.
The proposal calls for upgrading the interior and exterior of the existing building, which is located behind the Chase Bank and in front of the Village of Manlius Recreation Building on Stickley Drive.
Matt Napierala, P.E., of Napierala Consulting, provided an overview of the measures the applicant has taken to meet the village’s special use permit standards, and he responded to traffic and safety questions from the board and a member of the public.
According to Whorrall, the Village of Manlius Planning Board has recommended that the village board approve the applicant’s request. The planning board voted in favor of the drive-through by a vote of 4-0.
Village Attorney Brad Hunt said the village board is still waiting to receive comments from the county planning board, so he expects that the village board will be able to vote on the special permit application at next month’s meeting.
The board next heard from representatives of Northern Credit Union and Seneca Savings, which are both seeking special use permits for drive-throughs.
Northern Credit Union is planning to develop the empty property at 314 Fayette St.
A representative of the applicant presented some changes made to the credit union’s proposal in response to concerns voiced during last month’s public hearing.
Seneca Savings is planning to construct a new full-service branch at 325 Fayette St. at the site of the recently demolished Mobil station.
After hearing an overview of the applicant’s development plan, the board scheduled a public hearing regarding Seneca Savings’ special use permit application for 6:05 p.m. on April 9.
Manlius Village Board meetings begin at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of every month in the Manlius Village Centre Board Room, 1 Arkie Albanese Avenue, Manlius.
Statement from Mannion on Manlius Swans
On March 21, Mannion’s office issued the following statement from the senator regarding the Manlius swans:
“As a lifelong Central New Yorker, I understand and appreciate the heritage and history of the Manlius Swan Pond, and I want this century-long tradition to continue.
I have asked DEC to be clear with local officials and my office on a reasonable path forward. I have expressed my strong desire that any solution includes cygnets as an educational resource for the community.
I look forward to continuing to work personally with the mayor, Village officials, and the DEC on a fair agreement that keeps swans in Manlius for many years to come.”
