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As a nation frequently described as "red state, blue state" due to polarizing political views, one thing that appears to unite much of the country, regardless of liberal or conservative persuasion is grief and outrage over USDA (APHIS) wildlife slaughters.
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The latest community to experience the "shock and awe" of Wildlife Services' brutal goose roundups and gassings is Youngstown, Ohio where on June 26th, agents from WS swooped into Mill Creek Park (which is part of Metro Park's more than 4,000 acres) to capture and gas nearly all of its Canada geese and goslings (total of 238).
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(Distraught community members have since set up a Facebook page to (13) Save the Wildlife in Mill Creek Park which in only a couple of weeks, has garnered 1700 supporters.)
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Killing of goslings is particularly peculiar in this case because park officials claim to have destroyed eggs and used other means to contain goose population. Were that so, why were there goslings at all?
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No explanation is given for separating the goslings from their parents and then shoving entire families into gas chambers, despite assurances in a WS press release and newspaper article that only "some" geese would be killed.
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Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) official, Laura Graber (who issued permit for the kill) originally projected that 75 geese would be captured and gassed. (Big difference between 75 and 238.) Graber later expressed "surprise" at the number of geese WS actually killed, adding, "But, its whatever is here on day of roundup that gets removed."
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WS doesn't usually operate on the premise and plan of "whatever." (It would be interesting to see the actual goose killing contract that was signed between USDA WS and ODNR.) Rather, WS is usually quite precise in both, its estimation of goose numbers and how many they intend to kill. This is usually necessary to know how many corrals and crates to bring.
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According to the article below, sections of the park were closed off for 12 hours on June 26th and WS showed up at 4:45 am. While cameras were allowed at the "staging area" and show geese rounded up and corralled, they were not allowed at the gassing site. (So how does media claim "euthanasia" if barred from actually witnessing?) One has to wonder what about this particular goose kill was "controlled" other than keeping media and pedestrians away from the actual killing process and keeping the general public in the dark about plans for a goose killing at all. (i.e. public notification and input.)
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Rather, it seems that when WS goes on its wildlife killing sprees, it doesn't know when to stop -- even when giving seeming assurances to community officials and announcing in press releases, otherwise.
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As debate in the 90's might have been over what the definition of "is" is, debate in this particular debacle might be over what the definition of "some" is.
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More than 90% of the geese being killed in an area doesn't seem to represent, "some." Nor does "whatever is there" signify some as much as it represents eradication.
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So, as still another community grapples with the distortions, obfuscations, euphemisms and unwanted wildlife massacres of USDA WS (in conjunction with park officials), one thing is becoming abundantly clear:
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Whether old, young, Republican, Democrat, male or female, people from one coast to the other (including the heartland) are experiencing the lethal and extreme reaches of USDA Wildlife Services and seeming to express in unison and one voice, their extreme displeasure with and dislike of it.
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Certainly, there is no natural predator in nature that would swoop into a location and virtually wipe out all of an existing species.
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"Some" is never or nearly all (except apparently, in Wildlife Services' definition). -- PCA
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