Madison to kill up to 350 Canada geese

[undeterred]

Critics say officials embellished the public health threat of goose poop
Nathan J. Comp on Tuesday 06/21/2011 4:08 pm

The city Parks Department is moving ahead with plans to round up and kill Canada geese in four city parks and along the Wingra Creek shoreline, Isthmus has learned. Parks Superintendent Kevin Briski didn't respond to numerous inquiries about the plan, but a reliable source confirms that the "roundup" -- as the mass kill is euphemistically called -- will likely occur when the geese are molting and unable to fly, making them easier to net.

The kill permit allows for euthanizing up to 350 of the geese. According to mayoral aide Katie Crawley, parks targeted this year for lethal control include Olin-Turville, Brittingham, Goodman and Vilas, in addition to the Wingra Creek shoreline. Crawley also says that city employees will not take part in killing the geese. Employees with the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service will handle that.

"The goal," she says, "is to make the water quality safe so families and kids can enjoy the beaches." This lethal control approach is an effort to prevent water contamination and beach closures due to excessive amounts of goose poop, which some say contains a virulent strain of E. coli.

However, critics of the controversial plan say the city has misrepresented data suggesting that E. coli found in water samples collected in 2003 came from goose feces. They believe alternative methods of controlling the goose population ought to be tried first.

http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=33870

Last year they wanted to kill the geese because they were afraid they were too close to the airport. That didn't fly. Now its all about water quality. The thing is, the water does seem awfully stinky early in the year but I don't know if they've really proven the geese are to blame. My dog swims in the lake every day until it gets too dirty - usually that's not until August but it seems dirtier than usual for this time of year already. The article doesn't say exactly how the geese will be killed. It seems like there should be a better way to live with the geese.

[grasswire]

1. if they're going to kill them, they ought to dress them out...

...and donate to food banks or soup kitchens.

[shraby]

2. 4 words...geese mate for life.

What a terrible thing to do, just randomly kill the geese. Might better steal the nesting eggs from the nests before they are hatched.

[stuntcat]

3. "make the water quality safe so families and kids can enjoy the beaches."

that's the purpose of beaches right? for kids to play..

I have this FACT to say, I can not stress it enough:
Right. Now. It. Is. Time. For. Every. Human. To. Be. All. Done. Growing. Up.

[hunter]

4. Don't you know anything? The BIG MAN IN THE SKY created the earth for humans.

And not just any humans either, just his SPECIAL humans.

If these SPECIAL humans decide they need to kill other humans, or geese, or whatever, well then, they know best and that's their birthright.




:sarcasm: