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If you have not signed and shared our NY Dove Hunting's Petition, please do so! The petition allows comments, but it is not at all necessary to add additional comments. We will be publishing talking points once or twice a week that could be used as comments or for individual letters to politicians and/or newspapers. Here is the first Talking Point. Talking Points on Mute Swans I) The plan of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and states within the Atlantic Flyway Council which includes NY; was to eradicate mute swans, not “manage” them. Legislation passed in June of 2014 by the NY Senate and Assembly prevent the DEC from eradicating mute swans and mandates mute swan populations are to be sustained and management efforts are to give preference to non-lethal methods. The ten year revision of mute swan strategies among the FWS and the Atlantic Flyway Council focused on addressing a failure in controlling the size and distribution of mute swan populations under current strategies. The new strategies proposed were based on Best Available Science and Best Management Practices. These strategies are not only the most effective, but less costly. New legislation forces the DEC to default to more expensive and less effective strategies. The long term costs of managing and sustaining a mute swan population will compromise conservation funds available for at-risk species, non-game species, game species and wildlife habitat. The long term costs of not using Best Available Science and Best Management Practices will compromise conservation funds available for at-risk species, non-game species, game species and their habitats. The cost of remediating mute swan impacts will compromise conservation funds available for at-risk species, non-game species, game species and their habitats. The DEC is legally mandated to remediate impacts to native wildlife and their habitats – “doing nothing” is not an option; therefore an impact to conservation funds is inevitable. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/832/485/616/veto-s-065889-a-and-a-08790-a/