Word: canadas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Canada geese are also prolific poopers, and with excretions adding up to as much as 1 lb. a day per bird, the health hazards are serious. The birds have been blamed for fecal contamination that has led to beach closings. "It's not just the geese, but what the geese leave behind," says John Moriarty, natural-resources specialist for Minnesota's Ramsey County parks...
Moriarty and fellow wildlife officials across the U.S. - as well as in Canada, Britain and other countries - have been trying to control the goose population for years. So how do you goose Canada geese? For starters, you get people to stop feeding them. Another method is to change the landscape; like good suburbanites, Canada geese prefer well-trimmed lawns and will shun long grass and shrubby areas that can hide predators. They can be scared away by noisemakers, fireworks, falcons and border collies. Pouring vegetable oil on goose eggs prevents them from hatching and also tricks their parents into...
...animal lovers are livid over what they see as needless slaughter - a debate repeated almost everywhere Canada geese are being culled. In New York City, it didn't help when Bloomberg commented that gassing geese amounted to "letting them go to sleep with nice dreams." Pro-goose activists picketed at Union Square as well as at Bloomberg's posh Manhattan home. "Are we going to extinguish every single bird in the sky?" asks Edita Birnkrant, New York director of Friends of Animals...
Certainly not. There are believed to be some 25,000 resident Canada geese in the New York City area, way more than the 2,000 that officials are sending to permanent dreamland. Meanwhile, DNA tests released in June showed that it was a flock of migratory geese from Nova Scotia that brought down Flight 1549 - so targeting resident geese alone won't keep airplanes safe. Researchers are looking into more-effective defenses for airports, like improved radar systems...
Killing geese because they get in our way is a bit unfair. "You can argue that we created the environment they live in, so too bad if we don't like it," says Peter Capainolo, a senior scientific assistant at the American Museum of Natural History. Canada geese aren't the best neighbors, but that doesn't mean they deserve the death penalty...