Orlando completes relocation of all Lake Eola swans, city says
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Lake Eola Park is reportedly without its famous captive swans for the first time in decades.
The city of Orlando said in a news release Saturday morning that its Parks and Recreation department had completed the relocation of all the park’s swans, as it had announced in May as a prioritization of the birds’ health and well-being.
“Today, park rangers, animal handlers and staff safely relocated 42 Mute, Australian Black, Black-necked, Whooper and Trumpeter swans,” the release states. “The swans were transported to their new sanctuary, where they have joined the swans previously rehomed from Lake Eola Park.”
The city described its decision to rehome the captive swans as a pause of its swan program that followed consultation with state and federal partners, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Relocating the swans is expected to reduce stress during an extended period of construction in the park associated with the Lake Eola Master Plan, though the city has also said that park visitors may continue to see wild swans at Lake Eola as they migrate naturally through urban waterways.
During remarks at Orlando City Hall, City Commissioner Patty Sheehan confirmed that the pause was directly related to a winter avian flu outbreak that killed at least 29 birds, adding that she didn’t know when the swan program will return.
“We have a hundred years of history with the swans, I’m hoping we can continue in the future when it’s safer for them,” she said.
Orlando’s first swans were purchased around 1893 by Charles Lord, who came to Florida from England, according to the Orange County Regional History Center. Lord brought four white birds from Connecticut and took them to Lake Lucerne, saying he was interested in the swans as a way to amplify the beauty of Orlando’s lakes. The swans became established at Lake Eola in the early 1920s after a territorial conflict at Lake Lucerne between two breeds of the swans led to their separation and relocation.
The swans were removed from Lake Eola for a time and returned several decades ago following renovations after the park was taken over by transients in the ’70s and ’80s.