Miami Herald

Published Monday, July 23, 2001

Prized swan missing; mate, hotel distressed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- (AP) -- An Australian black swan and her eggs have been stolen from a local hotel, leaving her mate calling out plaintive cries.

The swan and eggs were stolen last week from Jacksonville International Airport's Clarion Hotel, where officials and her mate want her back.

``They're soul mates,'' said Robert Bechtinger, vice president of the hotel's management group. ``The other bird was going around the pond calling its mate. It was very sad.''

He said it was last Monday morning when hotel workers realized the $1,300 bird and the eggs were gone. A maintenance canoe, used to work on a fountain in a pond directly behind the hotel, was found on an embankment, near the swans' empty nest.

Hotel officials have told airport police of the theft, airport spokeswoman Laurene Carson said, but the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office gets involved only once the airport gets a written report from the hotel, which it then passes on to deputies for action.

``It's something we're aware of, and we're very disappointed because the swans have been identified with the Clarion . . . quite awhile,'' Carson said.

The elegant birds, native only to Australia, have been at the hotel since 1998, Bechtinger said.

Swans are monogamous, according to Mike Taylor, avian supervisor at White Oak Plantation in Yulee, Fla.

However, contrary to popular belief, the birds do not necessarily mate for life.

``If a swan loses a mate, they will find another one,'' Taylor said, while calling the remaining swan's search for its mate normal behavior.

Whoever has the stolen swan won't need a permit to sell it, Taylor said, so she could be sold easily to a breeder or exotic bird dealer. The thieves also appear to have known what they were doing, he said, because they took the eggs.

Hotel officials are so worried, Bechtinger said, that they would settle for just getting back their swan.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001