There is much news to get to this hot and steamy July 4th in New York City. Some of it good and some of it bad. For that reason, there will be a number of reference links in this blog entry.
First, we will start with the good news:
Two days ago, the Humane Society of the United States issued a press release condemning the New York City goose slaughters:
While the HSUS is of course, powerless to actually stop the carnage, the fact they have publicly condemned the NYC goose roundups and slaughters adds credibility to our campaign to save the geese. This information is particularly crucial to share with politicians, officials and park leaderships.
HSUS is probably the most prestigious, known and generally respected of the major animal protection organizations. Put simply, it does not look good if you are a politician or public official to be on the bad side of the Humane Society of the United States.
Another positive development over the past two days is that the intended USDA roundup and gassing of geese in Ocean Country, New Jersey has been halted:
Much credit goes to the goose activists from New Jersey, specifically (82) GooseWatch NJ for this very good and significant change. The people did what they had to do to halt the massacre -- including showing up at hearings, petitioning, handing our fliers, writing letters and making calls. This proves that positive change can happen -- but not without tireless effort, focus, determination, organization and a certain type of relentlessness.
Other good news is that so far, our geese are still safe and sound at Central Park in New York City and they are still safe at Inwood Park which last year was the site of two USDA goose roundups. But, it is far too early to declare any kind of "victory" in these locations.
We still have to monitor our geese at CP, Inwood Park and other NYC locations the same way Dept of Homeland Security monitors Grand Central Station against terrorism.
Until the geese start flying again (in about two weeks) they are potentially vulnerable targets in virtually all NYC parks and other properties. The lone exception to that this year is Prospect Park in Brooklyn where USDA has announced it is not going this summer. That is because there are no geese in PP to round up. Quite frankly, that is both good and bad news. (Bad news certainly for anyone who actually appreciates geese in public parks).
Now to the truly bad news and unfortunately, there is plenty of that.
It is hard to say what represents the worst news, but perhaps among the most disturbing in terms of the future is this piece which came out of Houston, Texas more than a week ago:
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/ducks-a-double-dilemma-at-carl-barton-park/article_30e16cdf-8947-5348-9259-16f285a5986c.html (duck roundup).
What is significant about the article is that in this case, it was not geese who were specifically targeted for roundup and killing, but ducks.
The complaint was the same as usually for geese. "Too much poop." But, the fact that of 17 geese and ducks in a public park, all but three were rounded up and killed, should be very disturbing to any one who cares about protection of birds and wildlife in general.
Certainly, it establishes a very negative precedent and shows us that our struggles are not just about saving geese, but other waterfowl as well.
Other bad news is that it has virtually been confirmed that geese have been rounded up once again by USDA from Staten Island:
It is not necessary to go into detail here as the Goosewatch newsletter says it all. Suffice it to say however, that like bad criminals, USDA wildlife slaughterers always seems to return to the scenes of past crimes (unless as noted in Prospect Park, there are no more geese left to kill).
Potentially very relevant to current New York City goose roundups, perhaps the very worst news comes ironically out of Watertown, New York, a location very far away from NYC:
Aside from the asinine and totally incorrect use of the term "euthanize" to refer to slaughter, what is significant about this piece is that it indicates the 110 geese rounded up from the location were sent for " food processing" in a "western part of the state." (Emphasis supplied.)
New York City is of course located to the farthest south east corner of New York State. To travel to a western part of the state like Buffalo for example, it would be at least 8 hours by car, truck or bus.
Last year geese rounded up from New York City were sent almost 4 hours away to a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania.
The reason for that was at the time, the city and the USDA did not have a "processing plant" in NY to send the victimized geese to. The fact is that only a few slaughterhouses "process" wild waterfowl.
But, in its 2011 "Goose Removal Report," the USDA indicated it was among the highest priorities to find a "local" or New York State slaughterhouse to send the geese.
Well, apparently they found one -- at the "western part of New York State."
We of course cannot prove or say with absolute certainty that this is the same "food processor" that our NYC geese are being sent.
However, the pieces of the puzzle so far, seem to fit and slowly create that very ugly picture. According to the New York Times blog piece last week from Andy Newman, "This year the geese are being slaughtered and distributed in New York State."
I think we have a good idea of approximately where the geese are being sent now.
But, if that is in fact, true then it means that geese being rounded up this year in New York City are being subjected to even far greater torture than the victims last year.
Temperatures in NYC over the past week and continuing to next week have been in the mid 90's.
That is extreme heat.
Add to that the geese being crammed 5 to 6 in turkey crates and being transported in trucks without air conditioning up to 8 hours away and yes, that is an extremely ugly picture of blatant cruelty and animal torture.
Of course reporters never question these actions and even use the USDA euphemism, "euthanize" to refer to such suffering and slaughter.
Andy Newman of the Times even referred to the low numbers of geese in NYC and Prospect Park as representative of the "success" of the USDA goose "removal" programs -- the term, "removal" being another euphemism for what really are massacres.
One is at loss at what to say about the media's repeated failures to properly question, identify and investigate, but rather, simply "run" with USDA press releases, excuses and euphemisms in order to hide what is really going on from both the public and the press.
Suffice it to say, that we the public have to learn to "read between the lines" of said sugar-coated articles and put together the pieces of the puzzles ourselves.
And from that vantage point, certainly, the news coming out of Watertown, NY was not only bad for the 110 hapless geese who were victims of some "mystery complainant" and the USDA acting as a private extermination company (rather than a federal agency), but even worse, for our own potential goose victims here in New York City -- who, if being transported to some "western part of the state" for slaughter are truly being subjected to the tortures of the damned. -- PCA
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