Another of today's threads reminded me of this. Never make the mistake of failing to take swan hissy fits seriously. I know I always did until I heard this story.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-drowning.html
Wife of Anthony Hensley, who died after swan attack, sues employer Network Writers News Corp Australia April 23, 2014 11:49PMA man died after he fell off a kayak into a pond and a swan attacked him. Anthony Hensley, 37, drowned on Saturday after the swan he was checking as part of his job at a condominium complex in Cook County, Illinois charged at him. Authorities believe the man, who was devoted to caring for swans, got too close to the large bird or to its nesting area before he was attacked
Mr Hensley was at the pond because he was hired by a company to try to keep geese away from the housing complex along Bay Colony Drive. The procedure the father of two young daughters was supposed to use to keep the geese away was to bring a swan to the area to deter the other birds.
Mr Hensley had been checking on the swan while on a kayak when he fell over into the water. He had attempted to resurface bringing his head above the water and moving toward the shoreline on a few occasions, witnesses told NBC Chicago. But Mr Hensley ultimately remained under water and did not come back to the surface
His father, Raymond, told CBS Chicago that his son was wearing heavy clothes and boots that weighed him down in the water while being attacked by the big bird. He said to the station: 'It's tragic for him to have to spend the last few moments like that.' Emergency crews arrived at the scene and pulled the father from the water and had attempted to save him. It proved to be unsuccessful.
Mr Hensley, who lived in nearby Villa Park, Illinois, was taken to the Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 8.16am. An autopsy ruled that the father died of an accidental drowning. Mr Hensley's family told CBS Chicago that they are trying to cope with tragic loss. Tony Macri, brother of Mr Hensley's wife, Amy, told the television station that his sister is devastated.
The couple had been married for four years, he said. Along with his family, Mr Hensley was passionate about looking after swans as part of his regular work In his free time, he shared his good sense of humor with his family, his father said. 'He?s going to be remembered as one of the most wonderful fathers in the world,' he said. 'A very good father, a very good husband; there wasn?t a mean bone in his body.
THE wife of a man who died after a vicious swan attack two years ago is suing his employer and the apartment complex where he looked after the birds. Amy Hensley, who contends the swan attack contributed to the drowning of her husband, Anthony Hensley, said the defendants ?knew or should have known that mute swans are strongly territorial with a dangerous propensity to attack,? according to the lawsuit cited by the Chicago Tribune. Anthony Hensley, a father of two, drowned in April 2012 after he fell out of a kayak when a swan attacked at the Bay Colony Pond in Des Plaines, Illinois, where he tended to the birds. According to reports at the time, the giant swan continued to lunge at him as was dragged underwater by the weight of clothes and heavy boots. Hensley came up at least once after his kayak tipped in the pond, but by the time dive crews finally pulled him out of the water, more than 30 minutes had passed, witnesses told CBS.
Vicious ... mute swans ?attack by smashing at their victims with bony spurs in the wings, accompanied by biting with their large bill,? the lawsuit says.
?They probably thought that he was going too close to their eggs, and they were too scared, and they just attacked him,? eyewitness Daniel Gamanov said. Ms Hensley?s lawsuit notes that a mute swan ? the type used at the pond to keep geese away ? ?is one of the heaviest flying birds, with males averaging about 24 to 26-pounds (11 to 12 kilograms).? The birds are also highly aggressive and ?attack by smashing at their victims with bony spurs in the wings, accompanied by biting with their large bill,? the suit says. Ms Hensley?s attorney pointed to the Tribune Illinois? Animal Control Act which says the owner of an animal that attacks a can be held liable for damages in certain circumstances. The defendants wouldn?t return requests to comment on the case.