Nobles Pond Swan Saga

This spring a pair of swans have again been nesting on Nobles Pond. About a week and a half ago three or more babies swans were hatched. For reasons we will explain later, on Monday morning the swan family decided to seek higher ground and migrated to the Foxchase area. At one point traffic was stopped on Foxchase because the swan family was blocking the street. Some reported seeing as many as four baby swans in the morning but by afternoon only one baby swan was left. Some suspect the hawks. By afternoon mother and father and one baby swan had taken residence on the devils strip of grass on Foxchase at the corner of Chillingsworth, and were not bothered by having several concerned neighbors hovering near them.

Mothers swan was limping and appeared to be injured and a number of residents sought help from a number of Stark County animal aid organizations such as the Wilderness Center only to find that they only care for animals that are native to Stark County and swans are not in that category. They did learn though from one of the organizations that snapping turtles have become very aggressive this season and that may have been the reason the swans left the pond.

Finally one of the neighbors who has a friend in the critter control business called him for help. They netted mother and baby swan and removed the fishing line from mother swan’s legs making her a much happier critter. Father swan did not like being netted and finally critter control resorted to carrying him to the pond. See the attached photograph.The swan family has been returned to Nobles Pond and so far seems to have readapted to its old surroundings. This morning I saw mother and baby swan swimming in the middle of the pond.

Thanks goes to all the neighbors who made this happen.