Swans Dying From This Poisoning On Northwest Indiana Lake

HAMMOND — A Hammond birdwatcher told The Northwest Indiana Times more than a dozen mute swans have been found dead, including six from lead poisoning, around a local lake in the past couple months. According to The Times, John Madeka said a man on a bicycle path near George Lake approached him in early October regarding the dead swans, and Madeka found a dead one the following day.

The local birdwatcher has documented 18 dead swans since, which he told The Times is a number of dead birds he's never seen, adding that he's been watching migrating birds in that area for 40 years. The Times said Madeka reached out to Humane Indiana Wildlife, which brought some of the swan carcasses to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources lab at Purdue University in West Lafayette. In a Thursday email, it was said the DNR had discovered elevated lead levels in the kidneys of six birds, some to toxic levels, The Times reported.

According to the news report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said DNR will lead the investigation regarding the area's swans. Madeka told The Times he's not sure if the lead is in the air or water, but the toxic metal is lurking at shallow bottom of the north end of the lake where the swans feed, as Mute swans have longer necks than trumpeter and tundra swans and don't tend to migrate.

>> More details reported via The Northwest Indiana Times (including photo of swans which may be disturbing to some readers).

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