Swan Kills Man

In several recorded cases, swans have killed small children. This report marks the first time I've heard of a swan killing a grown man. But as readers of The Book of Deadly Animals will recall, territorial aggression is a male swan's default setting. 


A swan generally attacks by striking with the bony knobs on the front of its wings. In at least one case of aggression against a child, the swan seemed to deliberately hold its victim underwater to drown him. That may explain the Illinois man's death. 


'Killer' swan attacks, pursues a Chicago-area man until he drowns - latimes.com: 

Swans "are territorial and can be quite aggressive when threatened. This aggression makes them good at driving off geese; it can also lead to tragedy.

Anthony Hensley was a 37-year-old married father of two who worked for a company that uses dogs and swans to shoo pesky geese from properties in the area. Hensley had taken to a kayak Sunday morning to check on the swans in a Des Plaines-area pond when one of the larger birds turned on him, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Cook County sheriff’s investigators believe Hensley either got too close to the swan or the swan’s nesting area."

Photography by Wayne T. Allison