NYC Killing up to 2,000 Geese
Guy Crittenden / Getty Images.
New York City and the US Department of Agriculture began killing approximately 2,000 geese yesterday, in an attempt to prevent bird strikes, which damage planes and sometimes cause plane crashes or crash landings. The most famous incident in recent memory is probably the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in January, 2009. Several counties in New Jersey are also gassing geese to prevent bird strikes. The geese are being rounded up at this time because they are now molting, and unable to fly. Nearly 100 geese were killed in NYC yesterday. The geese were corralled, packed into wooden crates, and then gassed with carbon dioxide.
Attempts to solve human/wildlife conflicts by killing the wildlife often fail. As long as the preferred habitat and a food source are available, the area will continue to attract individuals of the same species.
Furthermore, scientists from the Smithsonian Institute analyzed DNA from feathers found in the engine of Flight 1549, and determined that the geese involved in the Flight 1549 collision were migratory geese. Priscilla Feral of Friends of Animals explains:
The flock of Canada geese who were hit by an airplane that landed in the Hudson River were migratory geese -- not resident geese. The geese gassed yesterday are resident geese -- not a hazard to aircraft.
Other solutions are available. GeesePeace advocates stabilizing the geese population by oiling and addling the eggs, which prevents the eggs from hatching, in addition to habitat modification. Friends of Animals recommends non-violent means to reduce the flocks of geese when necessary, including habitat modification, and developing technology to protect planes from bird strikes. Without habitat modification, the area will continue to attract geese.
What is a "resident" goose? Resident geese tend to stay in an area year-round, and unlike migratory Canada geese, do not migrate to northern Canada every spring. They are descended from Canada geese who had been used to stock hunting grounds or as live decoys, and had their feathers clipped so that they could not fly away. The use of live decoys is now illegal.
When the geese involved in Flight 1549 were found to be migratory, one of the Smithsonian scientists was quoted as saying:
"It is important to not only know what species of birds are involved in collisions, but to also understand the role that migration plays in the larger picture," said Carla Dove, program director at Feather Identification Laboratory. "The more information we are able to gather in cases like this, the more we will be able to reduce the risks of bird strikes in the future."
Why are these resident geese being killed when the science shows that they had nothing to do with Flight 1549? Even if they had, or if the resident geese were involved with other collisions, killing the birds will not solve the problem.
Are you outraged? Kinship Circle is asking everyone to contact NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Allen Gosser and Martin Lowney of USDA, and the Port Authority of NY and NJ to express your opposition to this program to kill the geese.
If you live in NYC, please also contact your city council member.
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Why do we continuously kill animals because something happened with an individual of a species?
Today,6/24/09, I went to run on the track around the reservoir in Central Park. I encountered several geese who were bleeding and obviously hurt and feathers were everywhere. Found another in the bushes, with serious injuries and, along the banks of the reservoir I spotted four young fledglings and two adults that seemed to be dying slowly. I made several calls for help, even went to the police precinct there, flagged down a park ranger. Nobody seemed to care. Several people gathered around to watch and also make calls. I was there for over an hour and nobody came to help. Then, a passer by told us all that these geese had been poisoned and shot by the city of New York! How despicable and cruel!
Mayor Bloomberg has raised our real estate taxes ,our water bills ,and our transportation costs,but I never thought I would see the day he would turn executioner of these innocent animals by gassing these poor creatures to death which is a cruel and inhumane manner..Killing our wildlife and regarding them as vermin is unconscionable.The citizens of NYC will not allow this to continue,and we will vote him out of office come November.Enough is enough.James F NYC
Mayor Bloomberg ,we the citizens of NYC are outraged at your continued campaign of gassing our geese population to death,when more humane options are available.You will forever be remembered for your cruel execution of our wildlife in NYC,and this has overshadowed any of your achievements of the past eight years.Your legacy as mayor has been stained and sullied forever and has shown you to be a rich but unkind man with no compassion for other living creatures.You are wealthy but we are many.You have lost our votes and we look forward to a more humane mayor to lead NYC in November. At the end of the day it will be the geese who brought you down.
— Rose Kay
The mayor can now take his place along with other notorious animal abusers like Michael Vick.Think about it ,if any person harmed these birds in any fashion we would be subject to criminal prosecution under the law.Instead he has used the law as a weapon against our innocent wildlife and tries to justify his refusal to use non lethal methods of population control.His only solution was gassing them to death.This is nothing more then abuse of power and legalized animal cruelty. Shame on you.
A WORLD WITH ONLY US ………….. QUIET ISN’T IT? A HUMAN ONLY WORLD,DEVOID OF ALL OTHER LIFEFORMS.WE ELIMINATED THEM ALL,ONE SPECIES AT A TIME. THEY ARE ALL GONE, NOW WHAT? WE JUSTIFY OUR ACTIONS BECAUSE ANYTHING THAT INTERFERRED WITH OUR LIFE STYLES ,MUST BE DESTROYED.WHO WILL WE ELIMINATE NEXT WHEN WE ARE ALL THERE IS.WHO WILL SAVE US FROM OURSELVES? A WORLD WITH ONLY US… QUIET ISN’T IT??? “SPEAK UP PEOPLE BEFORE ITS TO LATE,REMEMBER THE INHUMANE GEESE GASSINGS AT ELECTION TIME IN NOVEMBER AND VOTE BLOOMBERG OUT OF OFFICE.”