Bully swan Reggie had too much attitude.
An adult black swan has been banned from the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – homeland of legendary poet and playwright William Shakespeare – and exiled to a place miles away.
The measure was taken for the bird was ‘terrorizing’ visitors and attacking other birds.
Daily Mail reported:
“The bird – nicknamed Reggie by locals – has been tormenting mute swans in Stratford-upon-Avon for the last nine months.
The town’s swan warden Cyril Bennis said capturing Reggie – who he calls Mr. Terminator – ‘had to be done’ and that the mischievous bird ‘had attitude’.
‘Other swans appeared to bow in respect and parted to Reggie as he swam through’, Mr. Bennis told The Telegraph. ‘It was extraordinary’.”
The offending bird was taken to the Dawlish Waterfowl Centre in Devon, no less than 150 miles away.
In Shakespear’s play ‘Avon’, the bard writes the line ‘Sweet Swan of Avon!’, a memorable quote connecting the swans to the River Avon and the magnificence of the birds that live on it.
But Reggie is not ‘sweet’. His departure from the Avon river was eventful, with Mr. Bennis left ruffled after getting ‘walloped left, right and center’.
“Mr. Bennis said Reggie had been causing ‘an enormous amount of trouble’ in the last few weeks by trying to mate with a white swan.
But he declared that was ‘not going to happen on my watch’. He told the Stratford-upon-Avon Herald: ‘He’s trying to mate with another swan and we don’t want this hanky panky going on’.”
Read more from May 2023:
Three New York ‘Teens’ Arrested For Killing Beloved ‘Faye’ the Swan – And Then Eating Her!
