The feds are defending their actions which led nearly 300 Canada geese from Prospect Park to the gas chamber earlier this month. Over the past week residents mourned the loss of their local geese (there was a vigil), and a former Parks Commissioner called out the US Department of Agriculture for slaughtering geese that were more than 7 miles away from the city's airports (the rule is that geese within 7 miles will be euthanized). So what do the officials with blood on their hands have to say?
According to the Brooklyn Paper, they say they had no choice but to kill the geese. Spokeswoman Carol Bannerman defended the move with data that notes geese are more likely to fly into airplane engines during warm weather. She also explained, “The concept that the birds never leave Prospect Park, or only fly under 1,000 feet and therefore are not a threat is not accurate. Eighty percent of birds strikes occur under 1,000 feet, when a plane is either taking off or landing. That is a critical point when the plane is most vulnerable!”
The Humane Society of the US is one organization that criticized the slaughter, Patrick Kwan says, “This was a knee-jerk reaction—there are more humane, more effective and more cost effective methods. This amounts to an unscientific and crude catch and kill program.” He also noted that their solution wasn't going to prove effective, and the geese will be back soon enough—or as he put it, "Any New Yorker can tell you that setting up rat traps all day won’t solve a rat problem.”
