Gay Swans in Austria Attacked Humans to Protect Their Adopted Baby: A Plastic Cup

[fleur-de-lisa]

https://www.sciencealert.com/gay-swans-austria-attacked-people-protect-adopted-baby-plastic-cup-homosexual-animals

A pair of swans in Austria have been forcibly removed from the lake they called home after a series of violent, escalating attacks to defend their nest from intrusive humans. The twist in this case is the swans weren't biological parents, but appear to have been two gay male swans who had formed an inseparable bond – and the nest they were protecting didn't actually contain eggs or cygnets, but at least one colourful plastic cup.

That minor technical point didn't seem to matter too much to the doting dad and dad, though, who treated the responsibility of protecting their plastic proxy with dangerous, almost deadly seriousness.

Last summer, the pair were known to approach people and boats and display aggressive gestures, but this year the attacks "reached a new dimension", according to the mayor of Grundlsee, Franz Steinegger, in the Austrian state of Styria.

"They have thrown themselves on the swimmers, trying to submerge them," Steinegger told Kleine Zeitung. "That was the biggest danger."

My daughter lives in Europe and this is apparently a big story there. The 2 male swans were moved to a more remote lake where they can stay together.

[catrose]

1. I hope they were allowed to take their baby with them

Heartwarming story, about them staying together. Swans are purely vicious, though. I admire them from a distance.