WASHINGTON – The HSUS filed comments today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) against the agency's draft list of bird species that are exempt from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the killing of any federally listed migratory bird except in very rare circumstances. The list of 113 "non-native" migratory birds, including mute swans, was published on January 4, and will allow for the hunting and killing of the listed birds.

The HSUS listed several concerns with the draft list:

• The list is inconsistent with the Migratory Bird Conventions of Canada, Russia, Mexico, and Japan, which call for the protection of all migratory bird species listed, regardless of their origin.

• The USFWS has failed to provide sufficient evidence demonstrating that the species on the list have not arrived in the United States naturally.

• The USFWS must prepare an Environmental Impact Statement because excluding 113 bird species from federal protection will have a significant impact on the human environment.

• Protection must continue for all migratory birds until the USFWS promulgates the final list of non-native species.

The Maryland mute swan population has been targeted specifically as the cause of reduction in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Chesapeake Bay, which The HSUS points out is misleading. The waste-runoff from factory farm raised chickens (chickens raised in intensive confinement) on the Eastern Shore, and the sewage treatment plants on the Chesapeake Bay, kill dramatically more vegetation than the tiny population of swans. Moreover, Maryland's small population of mute swans has been declining on its own without lethal control – from approximately 4,000 birds in 1999 to 3,600 in 2002.

Read our Feb. 3 letter to the USFWS as well as our legal comments on the USFWS proposal, which were filed today.

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than 8.5 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable agriculture. The HSUS protects all animals through legislation, litigation, investigation, education, advocacy and fieldwork. The group is based in Washington, DC and has numerous field representatives across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.