Although many consider them protected wildlife, others call them a feathered mess.
This week, the Canada geese here in Scarsdale are stirring up quite the controversy. Add to that some face time for these webbed natives on TV and print news, two differing view points, and now the battle over the Geese has begun.
This week, Newsday, Lohud, MyFoxNY, the Associated Press and NBC 4 reported on the bird dilemma. At issue, the measures the Village plans on using to keep the geese population under control.
Boiled down, the village wants to kill the geese and use the bird meat to feed the needy, via the Westchester Food Bank, according to Newsday.com. The problem is the geese are making a mess of the pond area and fecal matter is getting into the Bronx River waterway.
Scarsdale's Village Manager Alfred A. Gatta told LoHud.com that the village tried to use a border collie and noisemakers to get rid of the geese, but the attempts failed.
The animal advocates want a more humane solution.
According to media reports, the village would use hired USDA agents over the summer to kill the geese that live near the pond by the Scarsdale Public Library.
Protesters are speaking out online through petitons. The petitionsite.com has 400 signatures against the village's measures to kill the geese.
The petition states:
"People should sign this because animal have rights, but can't speak for themselves, and people plan to kill geese as an answer to normal behavior. There are humane alternatives, which should be considered before just "doing away with the geese" as is their disturbing plan."
The Friends of Animal advocacy group is also speaking out against the plan.
“Canada geese, a bird native to North America, should live free of harassment and harm in Scarsdale, and throughout its range," Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals, said in a statement.
Birnkrant said Gatta’s "complaints about goose droppings are illogical...as Gatta could easily implement a proven plan to remove fecal matter if it's accumulating in public areas. Human litter is picked up, the group says, and residents pick up after their dogs."
"What's needed is an attitude adjustment," Birnkrant said. "Not a bloody round up and shooting project."
The Friends of Animals calls goose roundups "monstrous" and describe the USDA's process of stuffing "the bound, panicked geese and babies into crates. Next, the geese are gassed or shot to death. Does Gatta imagine such immorality is preferable to cleaning the grass?"
The group is asking the village to seek alternative methods to deal with the issue.
You don't need to kill geese to feed the needy. There is plenty of food to go around if you take some from the greedy.
them by ignoring criminal complaints. By slaughtering and processing wild geese in a butchery, these people put health and life of thousands of consumers on the line. One state (Wisconsin) had even some death cases due to enteric contamination of meat and a state investigation regularly fails to find the origin of this problem. This process fits the classic definition of CORRUPTION.
The idea that we are "feeding the hungry" also makes about as much sense as going into the local zoo and killing the bears, lions and cougars and saying that it's okay because they will be fed to the hungry . If people are homeless and hungry, that is one issue (although lack of food is not part of the problem). We do not have to destroy our wildlife to feed the hungry. Defending our wildlife is one important value. Caring for our homeless is another important value -- but they are not related. Killing something that should not be killed and trying to use feeding the poor as an excuse makes about as much sense as a murderer who donates his victims' organs to a transplant bank being hailed as a hero.
7 billion people on this planet and you really want to talk about how overpopulated GEESE are? It is irrational to hate an animal. I do not despise geese, and there is nothing disgusting about them. They are extremely loyal mates, devoted parents and very intelligent. The fact that people have built over 60% of the wetlands that is their home, overhunted them to near extinction and then restored them, then ignored the growth in their resident population until they want to kill them says far more about us than it does about geese.
them by ignoring criminal complaints. By slaughtering and processing wild geese in a butchery, these people put health and life of thousands of consumers on the line. One state (Wisconsin) had even some death cases due to enteric contamination of meat and a state investigation regularly fails to find the origin of this problem. This process fits the classic definition of CORRUPTION.
A few years ago in Moorestown, NJ, the town killed 133 geese from a local park. Within a month, 90 new geese had come in to take their place. That is all any reasonable mind needs to hear to reject the killing option. The following year, the town tried a non-lethal humane combination of methods and they lowered their goose population to highly satisfactory, maintainable levels. They've never gone back to killing; they don't have to. If Scarsdale starts now and goes into spring with a combination of humane methodologies - landscape modification, egg addling and a few other ideas (and there are plenty of organizations and companies who are successful at this who can advise and help), they will effectively lower their goose population and will be able to maintain this for the long term. Once established, they can utilize volunteers to keep this going at low or no cost to the township.
A few years ago in Moorestown, NJ, the town killed 133 geese from a local park. Within a month, 90 new geese had come in to take their place. That is all any reasonable mind needs to hear to reject the killing option. The following year, the town tried a non-lethal humane combination of methods and they lowered their goose population to highly satisfactory, maintainable levels. They've never gone back to killing; they don't have to. If Scarsdale starts now and goes into spring with a combination of humane methodologies - landscape modification, egg addling and a few other ideas (and there are plenty of organizations and companies who are successful at this who can advise and help), they will effectively lower their goose population and will be able to maintain this for the long term. Once established, they can utilize volunteers to keep this going at low or no cost to the township.
The USDA actively solicits towns to kill geese - this is how they make their money. They were the focus of a 3-part series in the Sacramento Bee for their killing policies and how excessively they kill a variety of animals and misuse taxpayer funds to do so. Congress is considering investigating the USDA's Wildlife Services killing division because of this. Gassing the geese is particularly cruel, as geese are anatomically designed to be underwater dabblers and can hold their breath for longer periods of time. It can take up to 45 minutes for them to die, and essentially burns them up from the inside out, while they desperately try to escape from the gas chamber. You can hear them honking and banging against the sides. This is after the terror of capture and confinement, as geese are extremely "family conscious" animals and separating mates and parents and children is particularly traumatic for them. All of this for an animal that has done nothing to warrant such a grisly death - you wouldn't treat a mass murderer with such inhumanity.
You are correct, there IS bird birth control - it is called Ovo-Control and many resorts and communities successfully use it. What's funny is, it was co-develped by the USDA, and yet they prefer to push their killing plan instread of this. They probably make bigger bucks killing. If your community opposes this slaughter, you should all be able to get your Board of Trustees to change their plans. It sounds like many humane groups are actively working on this one.
I don't like crowds. I therefore don't go to Times Square on New Year's. However, should I go to Times Square and then whine about the crowds and noise? Would politicians then cancel celebrations based solely on my complaint and possibly a few others? One thinks not. Well, geese should not be killed either because of the intolerance of the few. If you don't like something, then avoid it. Simple solution. You don't deprive others from enjoying what annoys you. Sick of the violence and paranoia and sick of selfish, cruel, and ignorant attitudes. If anything needs to "go," it is those.
Should we turn our parks and ponds into slaughterhouses for the intolerant and paranoid? Truly unbelievable that there is seemingly no place on earth where an animal can be considered to be safe.
Apparently you are one of the gullible people fooled by the claim of feeding the geese to the poor. It might interest you to know that very few food pantries will accept geese because of the toxins in grass that they eat. No human will benefit by that, least of all the most health compromised poor. If you don't think that a goose taking 45 minutes to die while being suffocated and burned up while being gassed, and screaming and thrashing is not suffering, then you should make it your business to go to a goose roundup and gassing and observe what the process is like. You would have to be made of stone to think that those animals are not suffering. But if you are so concerned with the poor of Scarsdale, an oxymoron if ever there was one, then please feel free to kill and donate your own cat or dog to feed the poor. If you wouldn't do that, then don't volunteer the geese that many of us care about either.
In the Bible, hunters are always evil men (i.e., Esau) while shepherds who cared for their animals often became kings (i.e., David) as God saw that those who were kindly and good to their flocks of animals would be as good to flocks of people. For example, Moses was tested by God through his shepherding: While Moses was tending the sheep of Jethro in the wilderness, a lamb ran away from him. He ran after her until she reached Hasuah. Upon reaching Hasuah, she came upon a pool of water [whereupon] the lamb stopped to drink. When Moses reached her, he said, "I did not know that you were running because [you were] thirsty. You must be tired." He placed her on his shoulder and began to walk. God saw this and said, "You are compassionate in leading flocks belonging to mortals; I swear you will similarly shepherd my flock, Israel." (Exodus Rabbah 2:2) The greatest Jewish teacher, leader, and prophet was found worthy, not because of abilities as a speaker, statesman, politician, or warrior, but because of his compassion for animals. Just saying.
if nature evolved animals to live in water, you better believe what they do in it is harmless. I would not be surprised if dredging the pond revelaed beer cans or other things that people threw in. You' re in more danger shakling hands with most people.
If these people don't even know how to manage geese, they have already proved that they are unfit to manage people.