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It’s a case of swan-napping in the dead of night.
Becca Zakostelecky was in tears Friday afternoon, nearly 48 hours after two men entered Highland Park Mobile Home Village, a gated, 55-plus community on West Brannen Road in South Lakeland, and used nets to capture the community’s two black swans, Sterling and Luna.
They also grabbed at least four eggs the pair was tending in a nesting box.
“We’re offering a $1,000 reward for anybody that can lead to the prosecution of these two men –– no, not even men … criminals,” Zakostelecky said, choking up.
Security cameras caught the two men roaming the lakeside between 9:04 and 9:43 p.m. Wednesday. The cries of the mated pair are audible.
It was Sterling’s second mate. An otter ate his first in the last two years and Zakostelecky said Sterling deeply mourned her loss.
“I’ve never experienced a swan mourning like he did,” she said. “We really thought he was going to pass away. He just cried and cried and cried, and so we contacted a breeder and bought a female, and instantly it was love at first sight, which is not very common with swans mourning.”
The pair laid eggs in the fall, but the hurricanes flooded their nest. They tried again in the last week, with four eggs spotted in the nest Sunday. Because the birds were on the nest, it made them and the eggs easy prey for the swan-nappers.
Zakostelecky said she wasn’t worried about the men eating the swans and the eggs. Investigators said they will more than likely sell them. Sterling cost the park about $3,200 and Luna $3,000. She said the eggs sell for about $1,500 each.
Polk County Sheriff’s Office Director of Communications Scott Wilder confirmed a detective with their agricultural unit is hot on the trail of the fowl felons.
“We have some leads and we’re tracking those down and we hope to find out who’s responsible,” Wilder said.
Wilder and Zakostelecky are hoping the swans are returned to their rightful pond. Zakostelecky said the people in the park treat the birds as their own pets, with many looking forward each day to feeding Sterling, Luna and their four white counterparts — along with their cygnets.
“Bring them back,” she begged. “This is their home. This is all they know. There’s four other swans that are looking for them.”
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I really hope this person (people) are caught. What they’ve done is evil.