Farmer seeks permission to shoot swans damaging crops

A grain farmer in Iceland says swans are causing heavy losses in his family’s fields and wants farmers to be allowed to shoot them, mbl.is reported. Auðunn Magni Björgvinsson, a pig and grain farmer at Gunnarsholt in Rangárvellir, said he and his father lose as much as 40 hectares of crops each year.

The pair grow grain on 400 hectares. Björgvinsson said swans had been a problem for years, and that the damage had increased as their numbers grew. Greylag geese have also damaged crops, he said, but farmers are allowed to shoot them.

The grain is used to produce feed for the farm’s pigs. The business has increased production by more than half and also sells feed to Lífland. Björgvinsson said losing 30 to 40 hectares each year was a significant setback because the crop is planted and harvested only once a year.

He said he wants grain farmers to be allowed to shoot swans that enter their fields. The birds are fully protected in Iceland, and hunting them is illegal. To make a difference, he estimated, he and his father would need to shoot between 200 and 500 swans a day for a week.

MP Þórarinn Ingi Pétursson of the Progressive Party has twice proposed allowing the hunting of swans, greylag geese, pink-footed geese and barnacle geese outside the usual hunting season. The proposal says swans need to eat about 300 grams of dry matter a day, and young birds often gather in large flocks on newly cultivated land and grain fields.

The proposal also says swans have been protected in Iceland since 1913. Their population was estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 around 1960 and is now thought to be about 34,000. It calls for local exemptions to the law to address crop damage.