Tags: 'Swan, Attacks, Caretaker, Killer

‘Killer’ Swan Attacks Caretaker And Causes Him To Drown

By: Rob Adams
04/17/2012 05:25 PM ET

An Illinois caretaker died from drowning in a lake after he got knocked from his kayak by a ‘killer’ swan that pursued him as he tried to swim to shore.

37-year-old Anthony Hensley worked for a company that uses swans and dogs to keep geese from ruining certain properties. Hensley was apparently on one of the ponds, at a condominium site, checking on the swans when one of them turned on him.

When emergency personnel arrived, they found Hensley unconscious and submerged under the water, according to the Chicago Sun Times. An autopsy indicated the cause of death as drowning.

Hensley’s father-in-law, George Koutsogiannis, was left wondering how he couldn’t fight back against the swan and survived. “Maybe he didn’t want to hurt the animal,” Koutsogiannis told the paper. “Maybe he didn’t fight back enough when the swan attacked him.”

But apparently the heavy boots and clothing Hensley was wearing at the time weighed him down when they got wet in the water and he was not strong enough to overcome the extra weight when he tried to swim to shore.

Swans can typically become very large in terms of birds, weighing up to 33 pounds, standing close to 4 feet tall and have a wing span of 10 feet. Swans are typically aggressive birds when they feel provoked are you get to close to their nesting area.