Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – State Sen. Chris Balkema (R-Channahon) may not be welcomed home once the legislative session is over. He will have to face his only constituent who opposes – “very loudly,” no less – his bill to remove the mute swan from the endangered species list and put it into the crosshairs of Illinois hunters.
That constituent? Mrs. Balkema.
The senator said she is the answer to State Sen. Laura Ellman‘s (D-Naperville) question, “This is a mute swan? Who speaks for this swan?” The senator’s wife would also deliver a loud No to State Sen. Rachel Ventura‘s (D-Joliet) question of whether the mute swan is an “ugly duckling.”
The bill, which has passed unanimously in both chambers, speaks to the swan’s status as an invasive species which, said State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), “does a lot of harm throughout the state. This is a swan that we don’t like, much like snow geese, and should be hunted. It gets rid of an invasive species.”
