It’s difficult to imagine a more outrageous example of idiotic government overreaction than this week’s incident involving a mute swan on Five Mile Pond in Danielson, which would almost be laughable if the outcome weren’t so gruesome.

The drama unfolded, according to media accounts, when kayakers and canoeists approached a nesting pair guarding their eggs, prompting an aggressive response from the male bird. The frightened paddlers then called the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

(Memo to humans: Why?)

“Earlier this week, we were notified that a husband and wife out on the water were attacked by the swan, but were able to make it to shore,” DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain told The Norwich Bulletin. “A short time later, the same swan went after two boys in a canoe, causing the boat to tip over.”

A reasonable response from a state agency whose name suggests its mission is to safeguard nature would be to tell the callers they should in the future avoid getting too close to any wildlife, especially such large, territorial waterfowl as swans.

But DEEP, like many government wildlife agencies across the country, has a bone to pick with swans, claiming they are exotic imports from Europe and Asia more than a century ago that have been driving off native birds. Dozens of states, including Connecticut, have studied ways to reduce the swan population and have launched various culling programs.

So instead of informing the callers that the swan was only trying to protect its nest, the DEEP dispatched wildlife officers who caught the bird and wrung its neck. Then they addled, or shook, the eggs to kill the unhatched chicks. The female flew away, Schain said, adding there are no immediate plans to euthanize it.

DEEP said it had no choice but to put the animal down.

"This is extremely rare. We almost never find ourselves in this situation," Rick Jacobson of DEEP told Hartford television station WFSB.

"We understand this can be very emotional for people. One person can look at a swan and see an absolutely beautiful creature. Other people can see it as an animal that comes after them and causes them to overturn their boat," he noted.

I understand the need for lethal response when animals pose a real threat and there’s no viable alternative. Police were justified to shoot and kill poor Travis the chimp seven years ago when he escaped from the Stamford home where he had been unconscionably raised as a pet. The animal then went on a rampage, savagely mauling a woman by ripping off both her hands and much of her face.

Authorities also often have no alternatives than to kill rabid raccoons, fox, bats and other wild animals.

And most people, if armed, would fire their weapon if charged by a grizzly bear or mountain lion.

But a mute swan? Yes, they can weigh up to 25 pounds and have the temperament of a pit bull, but life-threatening? Really?

Several times a week I kayak in the vicinity of a nesting pair and literally go out of my away to avoid confrontation. The birds eye me warily and occasionally prepare to swim toward me should I be so irresponsible and reckless to stray too close, but for the most part we have an uneasy truce. I don’t bother them, they don’t bother me.

That wasn’t the case a few years ago on the Mystic River, when one angry male swan, at least 100 yards away, sped toward me like a heat-seeking missile when I innocently kayaked past.

I picked up the pace and veered away, but that only seemed to incite the angry bird’s determination.

Wham! Hissing, flapping its wings and snapping its beak, the foul fowl barreled into my boat, nearly capsizing it.

I whapped the feathered creature a few times with my paddle and it finally swam back to the nest.

I’m not going to enter the debate over whether swans are invasive pests or elegant animals that deserve their place on earth as much as any other living thing.

I do realize, though, that much of the impetus for their eradication comes from hunting groups who believe their population growth has come at the expense of such favorite targets as ducks and geese. While for the most part DEEP does a good job preserving open space and otherwise protecting the environment, the agency also can have a not-so-hidden agenda.

An official DEEP report on problems related to mute swan overpopulation reinforces this notion.

The last sentence notes, “This publication is partially funded by the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Program. Funds are provided through an excise tax on the sale of sporting firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment.”

Anyway, next time you're out in your kayak or canoe and come upon a nesting swan, give it a wide berth. You may avoid going for a swim, and more important, save the bird's neck.