To the Editor:

In response to Tara Deering’s article, “Lancelot, Elaine on the Loose,” I feel a few misconceptions need to be addressed.

The goal of the experiment of replacing the European Mute Swan with a native Iowan – the Trumpeter Swan – is NOT to domesticate the birds, but rather to see if a mobile species can adapt to an urban setting such as ISU!

Yes, we hope that they will stay near or on the lake, but since they haven’t we may need to consider alternatives.

It is also an experiment to see if Ames and the ISU community will embrace the idea of having a federally endangered species on the lake. Will we support the statewide trumpeter swan reintroduction effort? Will we slow down and take the time to allow swans to be swans? Do we care enough to learn their habits and accommodate some of their peculiarities, or will we try to force the birds to stay on the lake?

Trumpeter swans are valuable not only for their price tag. They are a part of our heritage. They are part of a program to protect wetlands and bring an endangered species back to the state. If Lancelot and Elaine succeed in nesting, their cygnets will become part of a new and growing statewide population. Trumpeter swans cannot be chased. If you happen to see one crossing or already across a road, please gently encourage them back to the lake. Just get between them and where they shouldn’t be and walk slowly, stopping frequently to allow them time to think it is their idea to go back to the lake.

Meanwhile – do we want to extend a safe home to a federally endangered, native Iowan? Do we want swans in a pen? Or do we want to go back to mute swans that will more than likely wander less?

Gaylan Crim

ISU Trumpeter Swan Restoration

Committee