Canada Geese in Lacey Township NJ spared death from USDA gassing
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

In Defense of Animals (IDA)
March 2012

Lacey Township will now use a specially manufactured kite that simulates an eagle flying overhead to scare away the geese and prevent them from nesting at the lake front - visit Geesebusters. The novel approach conditions the geese using the simulated eagle kite in conjunction with a whistle. After six days of conditioning, only the whistle is needed to dissuade geese from settling. In addition, they will utilize egg addling to prevent new eggs from hatching and enforce a no-feeding ordinance at the waterfront.

Thanks to many animal advocates and residents who spoke out against a plan to kill Canada geese, including IDA and our members in New Jersey, the geese in Lacey Township will be spared death by gassing.

On March 9, 2012 the Lacey Township committee had approved a conditional vote to enter a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to capture and kill the geese at Third Lake, also known as Deerhead Lake. Though USDA’s contracts claimed that the geese would be “euthanized,” in actuality, the geese are asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas, a slow, painful way to die that cannot appropriately be termed euthanasia.

Animal advocates immediately swung into action to oppose the cruel plan. Local activists held a protest, circulated a petition worldwide, and in response to IDA’s action alert more than 760 people contacted town officials to ask that the plan be canceled. As a result, at the town meeting on March 22, in which the committee had affirmed it would solidify the contract with USDA, the committee instead voted to utilize non-lethal methods to dissuade Canada geese from inhabiting Deerhead Lake.

Lacey Township will now use a specially manufactured kite that simulates an eagle flying overhead to scare away the geese and prevent them from nesting at the lake front - visit Geesebusters http:www.geesebusters.com. The novel approach conditions the geese using the simulated eagle kite in conjunction with a whistle. After six days of conditioning, only the whistle is needed to dissuade geese from settling. In addition, they will utilize egg addling to prevent new eggs from hatching and enforce a no-feeding ordinance at the waterfront.

IDA applauds the Mayor and Lacey Township Committee for reconsidering their position to kill Canada geese and implementing non-lethal measures instead. There is never any justification for killing geese. In addition to causing extreme suffering, killing is a grossly ineffective population control strategy. The physical removal of Canada geese from their habitat results in repeated colonization by more geese, a process that begins almost immediately as other geese flying overhead are drawn to the attractive and uninhabited territory below.

We encourage you to send a message of thanks to the Mayor letting him know you appreciate his decision to employ humane methods rather than killing geese.

Letters of thanks may be sent to:

Mayor Mark Dykoff - [email protected]
(609)-693-1100, ext. 2200, or ext. 2235

Regular mail:

The Township of Lacey Committee
818 West Lacey Road
Forked River, NJ 08731  

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