WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO…
WORKING FOR WILDLFIE IN CHEEKTOWAGA, NY
The town government of Cheektowaga, NY, however, remained adamant in
its plan to kill geese. Presentations by Jeff Termini of LOHV, Randy
Atlas of Animal Advocates of WNY, other local wildlife protectors, and
Peter Muller of Wildlife Watch telling of the advantage of non-lethal
alternatives fell on deaf ears. Even a letter from the Town of
Clarkstown, NY, testifying to the efficacy of non-lethal methods was
ignored. – Their Town insisted on proceeding with the goose kill. In the
early morning of June 30th. 106 geese were rounded up and killed by
agents from the USDA Wildlife Services at the behest of the local
government of Cheektowaga..
Jeff Termini of the League of Humane Voters of Western New York
addresses the Town Board of Cheektowaga
Town Supervisor Dennis H. Gabryszak had told The Buffalo News less
than a week before the round-up that non-lethal means were being
considered. That turned out to be an obvious lie. In my talks with
Gabryszak and other members of the Cheektowaga town board, they
expressed their view that “killing deer or geese is just like mowing the
lawn of getting a hair cut. It’s just maintenance. It’s got to be done
every once in awhile.”
They are fully prepared and willing to go through this killing
process every year. Such callousness and indifference to life is rare,
even among small-town office holders.
Jeff Termini of the League of Humane Voters of Western New York has
pledged to use all of his organizational resources to remove as many
members of the current town board in the upcoming election as he can.
A Western NY wildlife advocate wrote:
Despite working night and day on this issue, according to our
sources, the Cheektowaga despicable officials had their way and the USDA
rounded up 106 geese and sent them to the “processor.” They ignored our
offer of help with the “poop”—they ignored other towns’ reports of
successfully using non-lethal methods—they ignored the requests to work
with GeesePeace so they could get free instruction and advice on
non-lethal goose management. Activists who went to see the geese today
were horrified that there wasn’t one goose around the pond or in the
park. So now they have their baseball diamonds. Gone are the wonderful
sights of the geese and deer (had a bait and shoot earlier)...sterile
Stiglmeier.
