A Florida park has a myster on its hands after 12 swans have died. Park visitors at Orlando's Lake Eola Park discovered the mass casualty. The birds were floating dead in the water.
Swans started dropping dead on December 23. Visitors found two of the birds dead. In just a week, another 10 have died. Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan mourned the loss of the animals. She reflected on a moment where she tried to save one of the animals, only for it to die.
"I'm heartbroken," Sheehan said via local NBC affiliate WESH 2. "I've spent an hour and a half in 50-degree water, trying to get [a] swan out, and I did, and it died."
Swans Mysteriously Die
"To suggest it's unsafe to come to Lake Eola Park is something that's just not fair, because our park staff does a really good job," she said. "It's magical. We're here for the holidays. It's supposed to be a wonderful time for families. This park is packed with people. We would not make it unsafe for anyone, under any circumstances."
In 2024, several swans died due to bird flu at the park.
"If it is the avian flu, we will handle it like we did the last situation," Sheehan said. "We will put up signs. We're already sanitizing out of an abundance of caution, and we're going to be taking all the safety protocols."
The holidays have caused a delay in determining the cause of death for the animals.
"Usually we can get an answer pretty quickly within 24 to 48 hours," she said, "but because again, the vets' offices are closed, it's the holidays, everybody's working on a skeleton crew right now."
