In a Letters column today from Virginia is the poignant and troubling story of an elderly couple who had enjoyed families of tame and wild geese on private property for many years -- only to realize that the geese and their babies were secretly rounded up one recent summer evening and gassed by Fish and Wildlife Services:
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120905/ESN02/209050365 (Please scroll down page to "Disappointed in Death of Geese.")
While the bereaved couple expresses hurt and anger over the loss of their "pet" geese, they also express the hope that such incidences never occur elsewhere.
But, the fact is these clandestine government slaughters occur nearly all the time.
As anyone who has read this blog or Call of the Canada Geese FB page ((25) Call of the Canada Geese) knows all too well, such goose roundups and killings are now alarmingly common throughout the United States.
They occur in cities like New York, Birminghman and Madison and they occur in small communities like Delafield, Wisconsin or the town the letter is from.
Nor, does it matter the number or type of geese who are rounded up and killed.
As few as 5 Canada geese have been rounded up from some areas and obviously from the letter, white, "tame" geese are rounded up, as well as their wilder cousins.
The bottom line is that throughout our nation in recent years, people have awoken in community after community to realize clandestine government intrusions into their local parks or private properties to round up and kill wildlife -- in many cases, wildlife that the people have grown to know and love.
As a private citizen who has been following and reporting on this issue for at least two years, I am horrified with the frequency, sneakiness, cruelty and senselessness of these middle-of-the-night government attacks on nature.
But, I am even more alarmed with the total lack of respect shown to the voting public, the human citizens of our country -- as well as the writers of the Constitution.
This is not government "by and for the people and with the consent of the people."
Rather it appears, government run amok or "FDR on steroids."
Recently, the question has been raised on political fronts, "Are we better off over the last four years?"
Putting aside the obvious and troubling economic implications of the querie, there are other quality of life issues that need to be examined when asking ourselves this question.
And from that vantage point, the unequivocal answer is, "no."
Certainly, for Canada geese and millions of other animals and wildlife, they are not "better off" now than they were four years ago. Resident Canada geese are apparently and secretly targeted for near annihilation in our country under current political leaderships.
As for the citizens who care about things like transparency in government, reigning in of government waste, intrusion, and expenditures and protection of nature and wildlife, the past four years have been nothing short of an unending nightmare.
The grim reality is that the past four years have become a horror and all the fancy, flowery speeches in the world won't change that.
Perhaps it is wrong to blame the current President for things that occur on local levels or decisions that might not be directly or entirely his.
However, President Obama appointed Secretary of Interior Salazar, whose decisions and calls have resulted in many of the goose slaughters over the past four years, including the killings from Jamaica Bay Wildlife "Refuge" this past July at the bequest of Senator Gillibrand (D) of New York.
I never thought I would personally see the day when I would be worrying over protecting the little wildlife that survives in Central Park (and New York City) from a federal government roundup and slaughter, much less devoting a blog to this issue.
But, that day arrived more than two years ago and to this point, Canada geese have been rounded up and killed by federal government from almost every corner of New York City, but Central Park.
I will thus be voting against every current political incumbent this November -- something I have never done in more than 40 years of voting.
For if it be true that the "best predictor of future behavior is past behavior" then I surely don't want or support repetition of the past four years.
Our resident Canada geese will simply not survive another four years of this administration and quite frankly, neither will my senses of peace, "hope" or well being. -- PCA
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