ENTERPRISE (Brockton, Massachusetts) 20 August 10 Beheading of Stoughton swan probably wasn’t work of snapping turtle (Kate Sullivan Foley)
Stoughton: As authorities investigate the beheading of a swan found floating on Pinewood Pond, a wildlife expert said Thursday it probably wasn’t the work of a snapping turtle.
Norman Smith, director of the Blue Hills Trailside Museum, said snapping turtles’ beaks and mouths don’t have the guillotine-like function that people popularly believe. Stories about snappers lopping off people’s hands and feet are false, he said.
“If it was a clean-cut situation, then I don’t think it was something a snapping turtle did,” Smith said.
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Stoughton police animal-control officer are investigating whether a person or animal predator was responsible for the swan’s gruesome death and the maiming of her mate.
Brian MacNeil, whose home borders the pond, said he was looking for the female with his binoculars when he spotted what appeared to be her body on the water. He paddled his canoe to the location and was shocked to find that her head had been “severed clean.”
Her mate, with whom she has three babies, or cygnets, has a crooked foot that is bent up over his wing.
Smith said snappers typically go after easy prey – creatures that are weak, injured or already dead. They use their vice-like beaks to hold their prey, then tear it apart with their long, strong claws. Had a snapper taken hold of the swan, there would have been a struggle, he said, and the remaining portion of the swan’s neck would have had tears and claw marks.
Snapping turtles can weigh between 40 and 50 pounds and are known for being scavengers rather than attackers, Smith said.
Neighbors around the pond were heartbroken at the latest news. They have followed the saga of the male swan who lost his previous mate, remained alone for a while and then partnered with the new female swan that was found decapitated. There are three cygnets left from the offspring the couple produced.
Beheading of Stoughton swan probably wasn’t work of snapping turtle