The countdown has already started and the clock is ticking away on the lives of NYC geese, virtually all of whom are now in certain peril.
This past summer, the USDA rounded up 575 geese from NYC parks and properties. That number is far lower than the "800" previously projected and sought.
Apparently, so desperate was USDA to "make work" and earn their paycheck, they even "revisited" two locations (Inwood Park and Pelham Bay Park) to terrorize and capture whatever geese they could -- even as few as ten geese at Inwood Park the second time around.
Additionally, the USDA captured and killed 8 banded geese, including three with neck collars. (There were two neck- collared geese in Prospect Park this past spring.)
While the USDA claims the geese "were given to a food bank" in Pennsylvania, only 424 lbs of goose "meat" was (according to USDA) "distributed to food charity." (The weight of two muscular adult men.) That is LESS than one pound per bird! It is more likely than not, that most of the 575 entrapped geese died in the trucks en route to a slaughterhouse at least 3 hours away from NYC. (Crowding, terror, stress and heat is a slow, torturous way for the geese to die.)
In its "Recommendations" USDA talks about "finding processing plants in NYC that can process birds locally" and also about capturing geese when they are not molting. ("Alternative methods of capture.")
This is far worse news than could have ever been imagined. Although all evidence points to the goose population already being decimated in NYC, the USDA and the City are still vigorously planning to kill even more geese next year -- or more accurately, whatever still remains.
It is abundantly clear that if we want to save whatever geese still remain in NYC, then we need immediately to:
1-- Lobby politicians and City Council to demand oversight and hearings into goose massacres. We must also continually pressure parks to oppose goose slaughters and if necessary, implement non-lethal measures of goose population control for areas with more than 100 geese.
2-- Monitor and immediately respond via reader comments or Letters to the Editor to all news coverage and media articles on NYC geese. *
3-- Pitch to media and try to secure more coverage and Investigative Reports.
4-- Begin plans and organization for massive rallies very early in spring or preferably late winter demanding end to goose slaughters.
5-- Continue to monitor and report goose numbers in parks and city properties -- especially those that have been targeted for goose killings recently or in past.
The clock is ticking down on the lives of innocent geese in NYC and we cannot afford to be so naive to believe that USDA will not kill even when low numbers of geese are present in parks.
USDA went to Flushing Meadow Park on June 28 of this year to round up 7 geese out of 11 geese who were originally observed.
Obviously, a low number of geese does not deter the USDA and the city of NY in its killing missions.
If we want to save the geese still surviving in NYC then that work starts today. Should we wait until next year, we will simply be reacting to massacres already occurred.
The USDA is already seeking NYC "processing plants" to send next year's goose victims to. (Probably because so many geese died in the trucks this year on their journey to hell in PA.)
Though it is only fall, the death wheels are already in motion for next year's hapless geese still remaining in city parks come next June.
The countdown to zero geese in NYC has already started and is in full blown motion.
Indeed, "zero population of geese" is already the reality in Central Park, -- PCA
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