- This unwelcome guest tried to steal native female swans’ hearts by murdering their husbands.
Someone’s nickname can tell you surprisingly much about their personality and habits. Keeping that in mind, what kind of behavior would you expect from somebody nicknamed “Mr. Terminator?”
Probably nothing good. This murderous black swan certainly lived up to those low expectations.
Mr. Terminator suddenly showed up in Stratford-upon-Avon, the U.K., a few months ago. Nobody’s quite sure where he came from, but he decided to make the town his home.
He quickly became famous, with people arriving in town from far and wide to see the unusual newcomer. The locals, however, were a bit nervous that the black swan would get intimate with the town’s famous mute swans, which are a separate species.
Well, Mr. Terminator certainly tried that. It’s just too bad that his idea of flirting consisted of murdering the males of established swan couples.
Specifically, he started trying to drown mute swan males to try and take over their territory and mate. Although he was bringing in tourist money, Stratford’s residents decided Mr. Terminator wasn’t welcome anymore.
He’s now been removed and transported to an area in the U.K. with a local black swan population. Hopefully, he’ll settle there without giving in to his bloodthirsty urges.
Dark Stranger
Stratford-upon-Avon is a town in central England, some 20 miles south of Birmingham. The locale is known for its population of mute swans, with around 60 of the regal birds living in town.
Some nine months ago, however, a stranger came into town. He certainly stood out among the snow-white mute swan population.
The newcomer was, after all, a black swan. Although you might think black swans are an unusual color morph of mute swans, in reality, they’re a separate species.
Black swans are native to Australia, living all around the country’s wetland areas. However, black swans don’t migrate, so it’s quite unlikely he originated down under.
No one’s not quite sure where the black swan came from, but it’s likely that he’s British. There’s a small, introduced population of black swans living in Dawlish on the English south coast, so this bird probably flew over from there.
‘More Popular than Shakespeare’
Although he was far from home, the black swan received a warm welcome in Stratford. He was very distinctive among the town’s usual waterfowl.
The locals took a liking to him and named the bird. He’s “officially” called Reggie, but he’s better known by his nickname — Mr. Terminator.
It was Cyril Bennis who dubbed the black swan thus. He has been Stratford’s swan warden for 45 years, so he certainly has the authority, although we’re not clear on why he decided to name the bird like that.
“For some reason, this fellow — Mr. Terminator, as I called him — decided that this is quite a nice place, so during the winter months it was lovely to see,” Bennis told The Independent.
It wasn’t just Stratford’s residents who wanted to see Mr. Terminator. He quickly became a local celebrity, with people traveling long distances just to come see him.
“Everyone was coming to Stratford to see the black swan … No doubt about it, he became more popular than William Shakespeare himself,” said Bennis.
Homewrecker
However, Mr. Terminator also raised some concern. Although he was welcome and brought in tourist money, Stratfordians didn’t want him to start crossbreeding with their prized native birds.
“[Mr. Terminator] caused a bit of nervousness in a sense, because we didn’t want it to settle in and we didn’t want it to get too familiar with our mute swans,” explained Bennis.
“We didn’t want any hanky pankies or integration going on.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Terminator started eyeing the female mute swans and decided he’d try romancing them up. What’s more, he didn’t want to have a go at the town’s eligible bachelorettes, either.
Instead, he liked a more experienced lady and started going after spoken-for females (remember, swans are monogamous). His wooing tactics, though…
Well, he figured that the best way to steal a woman’s heart is to kill her mate and kids.
“The darkest side of our Mr. Terminator happened when he started to muscle in on a pair of our residents with a young cygnet and then things got a bit nasty,” Bennis said.
“He kicked out the male and the cygnet. He tried to take over its territory with the other female.”
Time to Leave
Having shoehorned himself in as the new male of the couple, Mr. Terminator wanted to make sure nobody does the same to him. And what better way to discourage anyone from messing with you than killing them?
Mr. Terminator began attempting to drown other swans, pushing their heads underwater. At that point, Bennis decided that enough was enough.
Although Mr. Terminator was popular among tourists, Stratford couldn’t have him terrorizing their swans. So, a plan was made to capture and relocate the now-unwelcome guest.
It wasn’t easy, though. Bennis didn’t go into detail, but his chest was still “a little bit sore” when he was talking to British media.
In the end, though, Mr. Terminator was no match for human arms and opposable thumbs. He has now been evicted to Dawlish to be with other black swans. Frankly, he’s probably just gone back home.
Now, the river in Startford-upon-Avon is peaceful again and everything is “hunky-dory”, as Bennis put it.
“I’m sure His Majesty the King will be very pleased now that we got one rogue black swan out of the way of our mute swans,” he said.
Oh, you didn’t know that the King of England owns all the swans in the country? It’s true, and they even have an annual swan census to count all of His Majesty’s birds.