Longboat swans settle into new home

A pair of Longboat Key mute swans are settling into a permanent home after their parents booted them from the roost.

The two males were hesitant to step out of their red and blue carrying bags when they arrived at their new digs in Sarasota, but finally ventured into the fenced hut as if playing follow the leader.

The boys stuck together, found refuge in a corner and stayed there while their former keepers, David Novak and Eric Bors-Koefed, talked with their new human handlers. The two are now at home at Sarasota Jungle Gardens, where Kara Krimers is animal department supervisor and Chris Lavick is general manager.

At first the swans were a bit frustrated and let it be known, stretching their legs and necks and making huffing sounds. But soon they calmed down and huddled together.

The pair, which had been at Camelot Lakes after their initial move off Longboat Key, moved into their new home at the Sarasota Jungle Gardens on Sept. 28 as an animal donation and first placement by the Gracie Swan Foundation’s Community Placement Program. 

The program was established to prevent overpopulation on Longboat Key. The Key already has between 16 and 20 swans. Susie and Sully, the sole breeding pair on Longboat Key, produce three to six cygnets a year. If the cygnets survive, they are available for adoption. Interested communities need to have a plan for the swans and offer a natural lake or pond free of alligators and river otters, among other requirements.

“A typical clutch of cygnets is going to average around four,” said Novak, who cares for the swans on Longboat Key. “I don’t really anticipate four are going to die, so for that fact, then we’re probably always going to have extra.”

Sarasota Jungle Gardens reached out to the Gracie Swan Foundation after deciding that swans would be a great addition to the famed Florida attraction.

The foundation, Lavick said, “fulfilled a need we had.”

For the next four weeks, the swans are under quarantine. The 28-day quarantine is to make sure they don’t have parasites and are dewormed. It also gives Sarasota Jungle Gardens staff time to observe them. After that, they will move to the open gardens and flamingo area.

The move was a positive one, even if the reason for the relocation is a bit unnerving. Swans are territorial and see their cygnets as intruders as they mature. 

Bors-Koefed, who had been the swans’ caretaker at Camelot Lakes, said he couldn’t be happier with the new location, noting the new environment will be elaborate. Like any good caretaker, he understood he couldn’t keep them forever.

“We can’t protect them from everything,” he said.

The swans are a beloved part of Longboat Key, and their placement at Sarasota Jungle Gardens will allow residents to still see them. The swans were born on Longboat Key to Susie and Sully, but after nine months their parents kicked them out, which prompted their move to Camelot Lakes. In May, the duo moved to Sunnyside Village. But after only four days, predators became an issue, and the two moved back to Camelot Lakes.

Novak has been the unofficial swan keeper of Longboat Key since 2007. He takes his duties seriously, evidenced by how he felt obligated to check out the swans’ new home at Sarasota Jungle Gardens. He said their new home is open enough for them, for they would have similar amounts of openness at other residential areas.

So, does Novak get sad when they leave? 

“No, because everything is focused on what’s right for the bird,” he said. “I want to do things that are right for the bird and anyone else and right for the reputation of Longboat Key.”

But, before walking out the door of Sarasota Jungle Gardens, Novak turned to Lavick and told him, “as of today, they’re your babies. Take good care of them.”