Geese Returning To Prospect Park Shows Slaughter Failed
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

In Defense of Animals (IDA)
August 2010

New York, NY (August 19, 2010) – In the thirty-eight days since New York City captured and gassed to death an entire population of Canada geese in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, 107 new geese have taken their place, reports In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection organization that has campaigned to end the slaughter. The geese were killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under a contract with New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The count was conducted by Anne-Katrin Titze, a wildlife rescuer in Brooklyn, who has compiled other statistics on the resident waterfowl of Prospect Park, including the 2010 official Prospect Park Waterfowl Count for the New York State Ornithological Association and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

“Just over a month after the massive slaughter, nearly one-quarter of the original flock has been replaced. This shows the absurdity and pointlessness of the eradication program” said In Defense of Animals spokesperson Barbara Stagno.

“This proves the utter folly and needless cruelty of the July 8 extermination,” agreed City Council Member Letitia James, representing the city’s 35th district near Prospect Park. “Killing those geese did nothing for airline safety. In fact, it likely made it more dangerous, since it encourages the movement of more birds in the sky. I pray that the USDA allows the new arrivals to have the opportunity to become residential Canada geese of Prospect Park Lake.”

New York State Senator Eric Adams, representing the 20th Senate district encompassing Prospect Park added, “This return of the goose population lays bare the ineffectiveness, complete recklessness, and unjustifiable brutality of the extermination that occurred on July 8th. We must not permit this unacceptable viciousness to be repeated. This is not a choice between airline safety and the geese; alternatives have been recommended by a number of reputable animal protection organizations. Civilized, benevolent, ‘humanitarian’ solutions are available, and they are the only acceptable ones.”

Councilwoman James and Senator Adams addressed more than 150 people at a rally last Thursday organized by In Defense of Animals on the steps of City Hall. They joined In Defense of Animals and thousands of New Yorkers to call for a permanent end to the city’s contract with USDA, and the utilization of only humane, non-lethal methods to manage populations of geese.

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