Animal protection organization The Fund for Animals and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation filed a petition Tuesday asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the Rocky Mountain population of trumpeter swans to the endangered species list.
The petition contends that fewer than 350 of these swans remain in the United States, partly because hunters cannot effectively distinguish between tundra and trumpeter swans. As a result, trumpeter swans have been killed and crippled, and access to fall and winter habitats has been blocked. Also according to the petition, trumpeter swans have been confined to inadequate habitats in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho because of their competition with Canadian trumpeter swans migrating from the north.
The trumpeter swan is the largest waterfowl in the world, with a wingspan of 7 to 8 feet.