How ironic and sad is it just prior to Christmas to have to recognize how the PR wheels of duplicity, ignorance and untruths just keep spinning?
About that "stay of execution" for the geese at Burns Park in North Little Rock:
It turns out that was not result of responding to public protest and pressure.
Rather, the Mayor of North Little Rock was apparently ignorant of both, state and federal laws that forbid the "hunting of baited" wildlife.
Since the geese at Burns Park are routinely fed by soft-hearted park goers, they are considered "baited" under the law and shooting the geese would thus result in large and costly fines to the city.
Perhaps we should have considered more cynical motives for postponing the massacre when Mayor Hays told advocates for saving the geese they had "three days" to come up with non-lethal alternatives.
Three days is not sufficient time to fully investigate, assess to environment and situation, estimate and compare costs and figure into a budget.
So, once again we are looking at ignorance, PR ploys, "spin" and duplicity.
All the while, the 150 mostly tame and resident geese at Burns Park sit as unknowing, hapless victims to political games, ignorance of law and refusals to consider the facts.
One should surely question why 150 -200 geese cannot be tolerated in a large public park that is 1,700 acres (or twice the size of Central Park).
As noted yesterday, the few complaints about "goose poop" could easily be remedied by the purchase of a Naturesweep machine to clean up the park of all debris, both animal and human.
But, perhaps the sad reality is that the politicians are not really interested in responsible ways to address so-called, "problems" and grievances, as much as simply how to spin themselves out of possible criticisms and loss of political stature.
The North Little Rock Mayor claims the geese are a "health threat" and yet he wants to donate this bullet-ridden, "health threat" to hungry people.
What are we missing here?
Either the geese are a "health threat" or they are not. But, surely we would not feed "health threats" to hungry humans -- or would we for the sake of PR spin?
As for all the blaming and scapegoating of those who "feed geese" for the so-called, "goose overpopulation problem," it turns out that those merciful folks feeding geese are actually the unsung heroes in this debacle. Were it not for them "baiting" the geese, a full blown massacre would have ensued in Burns Park just prior to celebrating the birth of the prince of peace.
Perhaps now it is finally understandable why so many public parks erect, "Do Not Feed Wildlife" signs and arrest 80-year-old women for feeding domestic ducks and geese. -- They want to insure that the public park can be turned into a shooting gallery any time of the year -- including before Christmas.
That may sound cynical, but considering what we know now about federal and state laws and one city's plan to "hunt" its park geese, it all makes perfect sense.
So, we can expect the "Do Not Feed Wildlife" signs to soon and hastily go up at Burns Park and all kinds of threats to go out to the little old ladies or young children who dare to drop a chip or crust of bread to the geese.
But, let's hope all the North Little Rock stores selling cracked corn, sunflower seeds and all kinds of picnic supplies are just as soon cleared out of their entire stocks.
It seems this is the time for banquets and non-stop picnics at Burns Park.
Finally, there is one more irony to this whole sordid mess:
While Burns Park, Arkansas whines about its "goose overpopulation problem" it seems a bit strange that other areas of the country are, at the same time, discussing the "decline" in Canada goose numbers:
Funny how in the discussion of various "factors" responsible for declining Canada goose numbers, this video and article never mentions, roundups, cullings, endless hunting and goose massacres in public parks.
How is it that we constantly fail to see what is directly in front of us -- or in the case of the vanishing geese, what we have caused to no longer be in front of us?
We cannot see extinction for the few geese still grazing in public parks. --The geese with bull's eyes on their heads. -- PCA
**************
No comments:
Post a Comment