A farmer has been convicted and fined €1,000 for shooting and killing two Mute swans on his lands in Co. Tipperary.
Thomas Hogan of Kylebeg, Borrisokane was convicted and fined at Nenagh District Court on January 5, 2023.
Hogan was convicted and fined €1,000 for shooting and killing the two Mute Swans on his lands at Ashley Park, Ardcrony, Co. Tipperary on March 21, 2021.
The case had previously been in court in June 2022 when Hogan pleaded guilty to breaching Section 22 of the Wildlife Act.
The case was investigated and prosecuted by an Gardaí Siochána with assistance from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Sgt. Regina McCarthy outlined the facts of the case and the NPWS conservation ranger also detailed the legal options that would have been available to Hogan to “address the issue of flocks of swans grazing his farmland”.
Judge King convicted and fined Hogan €500/swan and gave him six months to pay.
Mute swans
All birds in Ireland are protected under the Wildlife Acts 1976 to 2018.
Mute swans are present all-year round in Ireland.
They can be joined by flocks of migratory Whooper Swans which travel from Iceland to Ireland in autumn and who winter in Ireland before returning to Iceland to breed in spring
According to Bird Watch Ireland, Mute swans can be found chiefly at wetlands throughout Ireland.
The conservation organisation has highlighted that their key characteristics are an “orange-red bill with prominent knob on the forehead, black nostrils and cutting edges”.
Adults can make a “snorting or rumbling sound” while juvenile Mute swans can have a high-pitched whistle.
Bird Watch Ireland states that Mute swans will hiss when alarmed and although they do not typically call out in flight, their wings produce a loud whistling sound.
Their diet is chiefly based on water plants but they will also graze on land and feed on small amphibians, snails and insects.