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A sad day at yelvertoft Marina


Stuart Maddock

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Lady G what are you on?

 

9 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I think anyone trying to fight a swan in full forward agression would be rather foolish, best thing is to thrwo a coat over their head. and reteat rapidly.

 

32 minutes ago, LadyG said:

If you were able to fend off the swan, why could this  mother not do so? oh sry, she was "traumatised" Pathetic.

:banghead:  :banghead:  :banghead:

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10 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

I'm quite surprised by this change of demeanour from you LadyG...

Both the one-upmanship and perhaps failure to realise that different people are scared of different things.  Sometimes you can be scared enough that you can't do anything to remove the perceived harm, where someone else might just step in and diffuse it.

Some people have panic attacks at the thought of leaving their house, other people panic when their child is being suddenly attacked by a medium sized animal.  Some, allegedly, fear nought.

We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.

sorry, heffalump, but I was not at the incident in question. however Mother Nature has programmed all her offspring to defend their babies, whether goslings, calves, cygnets or kiddiewinks.

Not saying that one can't be helped by a stranger in a dangerous situation, but one cannot rely on others, all the Mum needs to do is to grab the kid and turn her back on the attacker.

Edited by LadyG
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personally I don't like swans, quite apart from that snide sideways glance they give you, I find they are unreasonably 'aggressively attentive' to humans but that is probably the fault of people who insist on feeding wild birds (which in my view is an absolute no-no except perhaps during a particularly hard winter).

 

if you insisted on feeding badgers, foxes or rats in your garden you would probably get to a point where they are also aggressively attentive and you will need to fend them off.

Edited by Murflynn
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13 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

I'm quite surprised by this change of demeanour from you LadyG...

Both the one-upmanship and perhaps failure to realise that different people are scared of different things.  Sometimes you can be scared enough that you can't do anything to remove the perceived harm, where someone else might just step in and diffuse it.

Some people have panic attacks at the thought of leaving their house, other people panic when their child is being suddenly attacked by a medium sized animal.  Some, allegedly, fear nought.

We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.

sorry, Heffalump, but I was not at the incident in question. however Mother Nature has programmed all her offspring to defend their babies, whether goslings, calves, cygnets or kiddiewinks.

Not sure what you mean by one upmanship. 

Edited by LadyG
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51 minutes ago, Starcoaster said:

I do hope that this was reported to the police.

There seems to be an ever-growing number of people who not only think it is not a problem if their dogs are out of control, but that there are no consequences for their actions. Such people should not be permitted to keep dogs. If these things go unreported, the problem will only get worse.

Absolutely.

I've been brought up with dogs and have lived with them most of my life.  All those dogs were well trained and well managed.  I'm sick of hearing "he's only playing" or "oh he's never done that before".    Even a friendly dog can be frightening to a small child, especially if the dog's head is at their level.  Dogs just should not be allowed in public places except on a lead, and a maximum of a few feet long at that.   If you want to let your dogs run free, arrange with a landowner to use a private open space.

I get really fed up with uncontrolled dogs that jump up on you, even in a friendly way, and smear dog shit on you that they have just trodden on (and don't get me started on people who don't pick up).

If you want a dog, you should expect to look after it responsibly, and be aware that not everyone may think your overgrown puppy is the most wonderful creature on earth.

I'm not convinced that a swan can break a man's arm - their wing bones won't be as strong as an arm bone, but every year it is a problem with dogs attacking swans and easily maiming them.

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21 minutes ago, Heffalump said:

I'm quite surprised by this change of demeanour from you LadyG...

Both the one-upmanship and perhaps failure to realise that different people are scared of different things.  Sometimes you can be scared enough that you can't do anything to remove the perceived harm, where someone else might just step in and diffuse it.

Some people have panic attacks at the thought of leaving their house, other people panic when their child is being suddenly attacked by a medium sized animal.  Some, allegedly, fear nought.

We judge ourselves by our intentions, and others by their actions.

sorry, Heffalump, but I was not at the incident in question. however Mother Nature has programmed all her offspring to defend their babies, whether goslings, calves, cygnets or kiddiewinks.

I am convincd a swan could easlly break your arm, though I have not met anyone who has suffered, but they are pretty big and come at you with a fair degree of aggression, it may be a warning, but I would respect their intention, and back off.

They are bigger than geese, and geese can be pretty difficult to deal with, very strong wings.

Edited by LadyG
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39 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Is there any documented evidence of a swan breaking an adult humans arm, I was always told its an old wives tale. Swans are not frightning vicious yes but easily delt with by an adult human. Our local swan lady was a slight old dear and I've seen her pick up a fully grown cob from the canal and believe me he didn't want to be picked up.

http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/questions-answers/has-a-swan-ever-broken-someones-arm

That link comes to the opinion that a swan probably couldn't break your arm, but I found this quote intriguing

 

Quote

However, we have included swans in our list of the ten most dangerous birds in the world, due to at least one reported incident in which a swan has killed a man indirectly. 

Edited by Mac of Cygnet
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"I am intrigued by Stuart's assertion that the boater was "making full use " of the toilet facilities. Did he have a video camera in the cubicle, or did he base his interpretation on audible clues?

I'm not convinced that swans "enjoy" anything. They look very morose most of the time."


The above comment is pathetic of the moderator, it detracts from the fact that a cygnet was despatched by dogs out of control of its owner/s. Shame on you...

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Dogs should be under control full stop. Too many people here at our mooring let their dogs run at our 3 resident swans, last year a signet was killed by a locals dog, it aint clever but some of the plonker dog owners laugh. We have a dog and she walks past the swans without so much as a sideways glance as she does cats and ducks etc, she is PROPERLY trained so it can be done.

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Having kept geese for a short while and learned how to deal with an angry goose in attack mode I'm not convinced a swan would be that much more difficult to cope with.

As others have implied, swans can certainly put the wind up you but honestly, if you just stand your ground what do you think they will actually DO to you? Beyond giving you a severe nibbling? 

(And of that 7ft wingspan mentioned earlier, 4 ft of it is feathers, not meat.)

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Having kept geese for a short while and learned how to deal with an angry goose in attack mode I'm not convinced a swan would be that much more difficult to cope with.

As others have implied, swans can certainly put the wind up you but honestly, if you just stand your ground what do you think they will actually DO to you? Beyond giving you a severe nibbling? 

(And of that 7ft wingspan mentioned earlier, 4 ft of it is feathers, not meat.)

Speaking as one who has picked up a recalcitrant Swan (who was enjoying bringing local traffic to a stop) you are quite right, they are not difficult to deal with. One hand around the back of their neck, pick them up under your arm and the job is a good 'un. They don't weigh a lot either so I think that people's fear is based on the hissing and aggression that they try to display rather than any harm that they are likely to cause you. I also haven't yet found this anecdotal man with a broken arm caused by a swan's wing. The only place I would be very wary of meeting one would be if swimming in deep water with a swan pecking at my face and eyes, that is more down to the vulnerability of being lower in the water than they are, on land they are a minimal threat.

Going back to the original incident however, I think I would be extremely angry that someone with three dogs failed to keep them under control. I can possibly sympathise with one dog slipping out of whatever was restraining it, that could happen to anyone, to let three dogs attack is inexcusable; they become a pack and anything becomes game for them, wildlife, cats, small children or adults. They are very lucky that it was a swan that was attacked otherwise they could be looking at a destruction order if it had been people.

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4 hours ago, dor said:

Absolutely.

I've been brought up with dogs and have lived with them most of my life.  All those dogs were well trained and well managed.  I'm sick of hearing "he's only playing" or "oh he's never done that before".    Even a friendly dog can be frightening to a small child, especially if the dog's head is at their level.  Dogs just should not be allowed in public places except on a lead, and a maximum of a few feet long at that.   If you want to let your dogs run free, arrange with a landowner to use a private open space.

I get really fed up with uncontrolled dogs that jump up on you, even in a friendly way, and smear dog shit on you that they have just trodden on (and don't get me started on people who don't pick up).

If you want a dog, you should expect to look after it responsibly, and be aware that not everyone may think your overgrown puppy is the most wonderful creature on earth.

I'm not convinced that a swan can break a man's arm - their wing bones won't be as strong as an arm bone, but every year it is a problem with dogs attacking swans and easily maiming them.

http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/questions-answers/has-a-swan-ever-broken-someones-arm

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4 hours ago, Stuart Maddock said:

 


The above comment is pathetic of the moderator, it detracts from the fact that a cygnet was despatched by dogs out of control of its owner/s. Shame on you...

:D

 

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Swans do deserve respect tho.......as a kayaker i was paddling on the k&a just down from honeystreet when we came across a swan that was very teritorial. 

A lady on a narrow boat did warn us of him as we rounded the corner and lone behold there he was. He was presenting and puffing himself up etc etc. We had to slap the paddles right in his face at 1 point as he almost pinned us to the side of the canal.

To add insult to this already embarassing and somewhat worrying moment i was holding onto the bank and my friends kayak when i felt a pain in my hand on the bank.....i turned to find a duck nibbling the side of my hand.......lol

It was like dr doolittle animals attack. We bribed them all with monstermunch spicy hot (hope they got the trots) while we ushered our wives past. 

Funny moment but a tad scary.

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4 hours ago, frahkn said:

I have to say that I agree with Stuart here - once again you are not prepared to exercise the restraint required of a moderator.

Frank

What a pronker, you've been on here long enough to realise that Athy has a sense of humour. If you don't know what that means, Google it.

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4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I wonder if this is true. Has anyone ever checked it out?

:giggles:

You might find an answer in this BBC piece http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17736292

But reports of injuries are rare and they are not usually strong enough to break a human limb

Edited by Peter Reed
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Just now, Peter Reed said:

You might find an answer in this BBC piece http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17736292

 

Curiously, I had already found the answer previously by reading the thread!

I took Junior's post as being ironic and joining in the fun-poking at the question cropping up and being answered about nine times already in the thread. 

I'm not however, so sure about yours! 

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13 hours ago, LadyG said:

I think anyone trying to fight a swan in full forward agression would be rather foolish, best thing is to throw a coat over their head. and retreat rapidly. The wings of a swan are easily strong enough to break a man's arm, and they are not going to let you get a hold of them. They are big, easily 7 ft across.

Geese can be scary too.

If a swans wings are easily strong enough to break an arm how is it all the people who care for injured swans and the ringers who catch and ring them are never injured.  Swan upping used to take place with the birds being hauled into rowing boats.  This would not have happened if periodically arms were being broken or people killed (a blow capable of breaking an arm hitting a head would probably kill).

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