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A few days ago, a friend recommended the documentary movie, "The Central Park Effect" to me.
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I googled Central Park Effect and was able to find the trailer for it, but not the full length movie without paying for it.
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Call me old and paranoid, but I try to avoid using credit cards online.
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From the trailer, The Central Park Effect seems to be about the birding community.
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Not sure I totally understand these people.
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They seem to deeply and truly appreciate birds and wildlife, but apparently not enough to speak up for them.
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Truth be told, there are not the birds in Central Park now that there were decades or even a few years ago.
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When going to the park in the mornings these days, I don't see many birds at all (other than at the Reservoir in winter when many migratory waterfowl take brief refuge in the still mostly open water.)
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There are clusters of sparrows and grackles here and there in Central Park, but few pigeons and other birds (though many pigeons gather around horse carriages at the far south part of Central Park because of the easily available oats fed to horses. Should the horses carriages be banned, the real losers will be pigeons.)
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I am guessing that's why birders need powerful binoculars to find the occasional cardinal, blue jay or red winged blackbird.
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Decades ago, there were thousands of pigeons in Central Park.
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Not anymore.
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I guess the introduction of the red-tailed hawks killed many pigeons and sent the rest to the streets -- or to the carriage horses.
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Of course, just a few years ago, there were hundreds of Canada geese in Central Park throughout most of the year -- most of them typically at Harlem Meer.
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That is certainly not true anymore as described in this journal!
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And even those few migratory geese who typically still fly into the Meer in December or January will now be harassed out.
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This stuff is sometimes very depressing to me.
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The other day, another friend criticized me for being "too negative" especially in my comments of feeling "overwhelmed" by the sheer number of cyclists and runners in Central Park.
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The complaint was general observation and not meant to condemn any individuals or even a specific activity.
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Years ago, I used to ride a bike and for many years, I was an avid swimmer. These days, I like to walk.
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Exercise is beneficial as we know -- for everyone.
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But, sometimes even very positive activities can sometimes expand to excess and ultimately overwhelm and even occasionally tread upon the rights of others to freely enjoy a park or conduct their own activities of enjoyment or leisure.
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That is what I was complaining about. It seems the overemphasis on sporting and other human activities in Central Park has in many ways, "pushed out" the wildlife and in others ways, impacted somewhat upon non-athletes rights to walk through a park without constant awareness of where the runners and cyclists are, as well as having to "dodge" or wait for exercisers to pass.
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Yes, I guess one could say that is negative and overly complaining on my part.
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Perhaps I am overly blaming exercisers for the fact my park seems intent on "eradicating" or at least pushing out my beloved geese and other wildlife, though the two actions are not necessarily and always related.
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Unfortunately, the nature of my work is at times, negative, demoralizing and depressing.
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I am fighting for what I feel is justice for animals (i.e. geese) that are largely despised and very misunderstood around the country.
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I am also dealing with (though not on such intense scale) other issues of animal abuse, whether they be the killing of swans, wild turkeys, cats and dogs in shelters or the killing of billions of animals for food.
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It is not easy to be an advocate for animals and at the same time, be upbeat, optimistic, totally objective and positive all the time.
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I know there are some people who manage to achieve these things (perhaps like that elderly couple met the other day), but it is a hard and emotional struggle for me.
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I think I was born wanting to "change the world."
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But, some would say to that, "The only one you can really change is yourself."
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Perhaps that is true.
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Perhaps I should take up some fun hobby like biking or swimming again and just forget about the world because it can't be changed anyway -- even a little.
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But, yet, some of us still keep trying.
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That is probably either genius or insanity or perhaps a little of both.
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In thinking about the elderly couple met the other day (and birders in general), I cannot understand how otherwise animal lovers could watch five geese be harassed out of a large park and not say anything.
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Small wonder the people at the Central Park Conservancy think me nuts and blow off my complaints about the continual harassment of the geese.
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And yet, I know there were many, many people at Harlem Meer who loved Cago, as well as the other geese and ducks who used to be there.
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But, they are forever silent.
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Sadly, in this and many other justice cases, silence eventually kills.
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Is the ultimate "Central Park Effect" that of vanishing -- and banished wildlife? --- PCA
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