Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Bad News for the Geese Just Keeps Coming




From today's Brooklyn Paper:
 
 
It is not clear where the reporter is getting the "193" figure for geese at Prospect Park.
 
But, reports from numerous park goers put the current figure to be between 40 and 48.
 
I am guessing the 193 figure might be from around the time the geese were migrating several weeks back and many hundreds briefly stopped over in city parks, including Central Park.
 
But, as has been repeated in this blog over and over, the first casualty of "war" is the truth.
 
Virtually, every article on geese these days is filled with distortions, exaggerations and misstatements.
 
It doesn't matter anymore what the actual truth is.
 
Perception is the "truth."
 
And media creates perception.
 
The few geese at Prospect Park are basically doomed with this kind of inflated reporting, as will be the geese in other areas.
 
One realizes that is not the reporter's intention.  But, it will be the result of misstated number figures for the geese.
 
It is vital for the public to stay on top of the wildlife situations in their areas and to not take at face value what is being reported in poorly researched media stories or government propaganda campaigns.
 
In this case, it is vital for people in the Prospect Park community to accurately document number of actual geese in the park and demand from city and park officials to know what is an acceptable number of geese in the park for the animals not to be rounded up and killed.
 
As far as "harassment" plans of current geese in the park, well, that too should rest with the actual numbers.
 
Harassment for the sake of harassment seems insanely poor choice for situations requiring calm, prudence, tolerance, dealing with actual facts and knowledge of wildlife behavior, mating and reproduction patterns.  -- PCA
 
                                                           *****
 
 

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