- A black swan named Reggie was removed from Stratford-Upon-Avon after nine months of aggressive behaviour
- Reggie, nicknamed Mr Terminator, terrorised local mute swans and disrupted their nesting activities
- The bird was captured by swan warden Cyril Bennis and is being held before transfer to a Devon centre
In a bizarre case, a black swan has been removed from a UK town after it spent the last nine months 'terrorising' other birds and tourists. The bird, named by locals of Stratford-Upon-Avon as Reggie and nicknamed "Mr Terminator", was captured by swan warden Cyril Bennis on Tuesday (Sep 30) and is being held in a local park before he will be moved on to the Dawlish Waterfowl Centre in Devon.
Reggie arrived in the town last year and instantly became a hit amongst the residents for its distinct, dark and regal looks, despite not being native to British rivers, according to a report in The Independent.
"However, for some reason, this fellow - Mr Terminator, as I called him - decided that this is quite a nice place, so during the winter months it was lovely to see," said Bennis, adding that as the word spread around, everyone started to come to Stratford to see the Australian native bird.
"On the one hand, it was great. On the other hand, it caused a bit of nervousness in a sense, because we didn't want it to settle in and we didn't want it to get too familiar with our mute swans."
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'Darkest side'
The town is home to a flock of around 60 mute swans, famous for their S-shaped neck and orange bills. However, Reggie did not take kindly to the mute swans and attempted to drown some of them. It also disrupted the nesting swans on the river.
"The darkest side of our Mr Terminator happened when he started to muscle in on a pair of our residents with a young cygnet and then things got a bit nasty. He kicked out the male and the cygnet. He tried to take over its territory with the other female," said Bennis.
After much deliberation, it was decided to evict Reggie from the town. Bennis said the process of removing the black swan was not easy, but he managed to calm down the bird and bag him up into a holding area. Bennis added that his chest remains a 'little bit sore', but the mute swans were now relaxing in the water bodies.
