The follow-up to the swan shooting in Kansas is given below:

SAY YOUR SORRY: The 1/14 Kansas City Star reported two Topeka men
accused of illegally shooting six trumpeter swans will be required to
issue a public apology as part of an out-of-court settlement arranged
with US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Attorney's Office. The
two men will be fined $1,500 each and will forfeit the rifles used to
kill the rare migratory birds. News of the shooting outraged local
people. "I had never seen a case produce this kind of emotion," said
Jim Dunn of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

AND it appears that the swan shootings in this state still go unreported to
the public. Outside the Skagit-Whatcom Counties area there have been two
I am aware of: one shot about 20 miles SW of Chehalis this winter by
teenagers - no one arrested or charged due to lack of connection to the
act. The other was near Dungeness, just south of the NWR at a place called
Voice of America. A pheasant hunter with lead shot in his gun shot an
adult trumpeter swan in flight. The other hunters in the area yelled at
him not to shoot, but he did it anyway. He was cited by WDFW law
enforcement. The bird was severely injured and was euthanized. The
penalty for this person: $140 fine. No other penalty, not education, loss
of hunting privileges, nothing. In other areas of the state we have seen
fines of up to $500 and community service. There are other issues of
concern about this case that are best not aired in public, suffice to say
that it is disappointing that in this case the penalty does not fit the
crime.
Also, there are still no signs up in many of the public hunt areas where
swans are present (and no snow geese present either) to alert hunters to
not shoot any
white birds.

Martha Jordan