IDA Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Cull’

Join us for IDA’s Day of Online Action on Monday March 28 to ask Mayor Michael Bloomberg to cancel all plans to kill Canada geese in New York City!

For the past two years, the city has contracted with the Wildlife Services division of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to kill Canada geese. So far more than 2,800 Canada geese have been cruelly rounded up during molting season, when the geese shed their flight feathers and cannot fly away.

After being rounded up in pens, the geese are transported to mobile gas chambers where they are cruelly asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas. It is a slow, painful and utterly unjustified death for these beautiful birds.

The city claims the geese are killed to make air travel safer, but killing geese does nothing to enhance airline safety.

For the past two years, new populations of geese have moved in to replace those killed. Repopulation by new flocks of geese is inevitable, totally undermining the effectiveness at reducing their numbers. It is abundantly clear that these repeated killings do not limit the traffic of Canada geese in the airways around NYC airports, and most likely, just increase it.

This year, everyone can speak up for Canada geese, from the comfort of your home, by participating in our demonstration on Facebook and Twitter. It’s easy to do and a great way to tell Mayor Bloomberg to stop the gassing of geese.

Here’s how it works:

Facebook Instructions – Speak up for Geese in 3 easy steps!

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Canadian Geese” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all week!

2. Follow this link and “Like” Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Facebook page. This will allow you to post comments on his page – under his posts. He has recently changed his profile to block comments, posts and tags but you are still able to respond to his posts. So even if what he posts has nothing to do with Geese – you can still leave a comment on his page letting him know that as a voter – you expect him to represent you and save these geese! Here is a sample comment that you can use :

The senseless gassing to death of hundreds of Canada geese must be stopped immediately! Make NYC’s airways truly safe by coming up with a plan that is humane and effective at keeping geese out of the pathway of airplanes. Other cities are doing it. NY can too!

3. Post a comment! Remember that your comments will be seen by followers of all ages and comments that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” will probably be removed before the general public gets a chance to read them and may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Facebook. IDA is not responsible for any comments you may leave or action that results.

Twitter Instructions – Speak up for Geese in 3 easy steps!

1. Make sure you have your protest “sign“. All you have to do is right click on the “Canadian Geese” image and choose “Save” to get this “sign”. Replace your profile photo to your “sign” and keep it up all week! You can also change the background of your Twitter page to show this sign too!

2. Follow this link and “Follow” Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Twitter Page. This will allow you to Tweet targeted comments to his page using @ and #! Here’s an example of what that looks like :

#@MikeBloomberg  Make #NYC’s airways truly safe by coming up with a plan that is humane and effective at keeping geese out of the pathway of airplanes. Other cities are doing it. NY can too! @IDAUSA

By adding the @ before his name and IDAUSA (our Twitter Page so that he can see that all the comments are originating from the same action) – this will send your Tweet as a message to Mayor Bloomberg’s page. The #s help make your Tweet go viral by showing up in a search page for other people also tweeting about that topic. By putting a #in front of NYC or NewYork City – you are increasing your chances of getting other New Yorkers to Tweet your message too and joining your demo!

3. Tweet! Because Twitter is a constantly moving message system – you’ll want to Tweet your messages to Mayor Bloomberg a few times that day to make sure your Tweet doesn’t get buried. But remember messages and Tweets that include profanity or can be interpreted as “abusive” may result in your profile being reported and/or deleted by Twitter. IDA is not reasonable for any messages or Tweets sent or action that results.

We’ll have a staff person on IDA’s Facebook all day to answer any questions you might have that day! Don’t forget to also send a message via this alert too!

Thank you for speaking up for the Canada geese in NYC. Their survival depends on your voice!

Across the United States, Canada Geese are being exterminated, in horribly cruel ways.  IDA is asking: why? Besides the inhumanity of the slaughter, past experience proves that the killings will not have the desired effect.

Brooklyn, New York residents learned this past Monday that 400 Canada Geese from Prospect Park were killed by gassing, and sent to a landfill. Last summer, 1,237 geese were killed and sent to landfill from 17 sites around Brooklyn.  This year, the USDA estimates they will kill the same number.  These extermination programs do not work, since more geese come to occupy the newly available territory.

The communities call in the USDA to do the dirty work because Canada Geese are migratory birds, thus supposedly protected under the Migratory Bird Act. But we’re seeing that rather than being protected by the USDA, they need to be protected FROM the USDA!

In June, Mount Laurel Township in New Jersey contracted with the USDA to round up and gas 133 Canada Geese. See our news release on this slaughter here. The act angered local residents who were adamantly opposed to lethal control measures. Not surprisingly, the government-approved and conducted slaughter also motivated some sick individuals to begin their own extermination program.  On Sunday July 11, more than 30 geese and ducks near the same neighborhoods were found mutilated and dead or barely breathing. IDA president Scotlund Haisley and actress Elaine Hendrix addressed Mount Laurel officials at the township council meeting to pledge a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for this latest slaughter.

Click here to view a short IDA video about the Mount Laurel Canada Geese slaughter.

Amid a growing number of complaints from residents nationwide outraged over city officials authorizing the USDA to cull entire flocks of Canada geese from community lakes and parks, IDA is stepping up to empower animal advocates with the knowledge they need to stop such grossly inhumane and ultimately ineffectual programs. In addition to the terrible suffering and death each of these wild geese experience, the participating cities will have to continue intervening year after year to keep their parks geese-free.  Instead of killing Canada geese, they can embark on a non-lethal program which would produce long term benefits and is humane.

Please stay tuned for more updates on this important issue. If you have a lake or pond in your community with geese or ducks, please contact your city official to examine their management plans. If you find they are exterminating the birds, contact IDA for advice.