Canada Goose Reduction – Story vs. Headline
A recent item in the NY Times on a plan to remove Canada geese around NY City airports seemed to mix achieving the statewide population goal for Canada geese with a proposed local action. The proposed action around the airports is to round up geese during the summer moult and later euthanize them offsite. This population is estimated at around 4,000 geese. However, the headline makes reference to the state of New York’s Canada goose population, estimated to be around 250,000, as opposed to their population goal of 85,000. Two different things at different scales. Reading the headline would have you believe that 170,000 geese were going to be rounded up and killed in one fell swoop to achieve that population goal. The reality of the proposal is much different, though. Interestingly, the estimated legal harvest of Canada geese by licensed, Duck Stamp buying hunters in New York state has been over 160,000 the past 2 years and over 100,000 in 7 of the past 8 years.
Excellent point John. Considering people’s knee-jerk reactions, it seems that our culture is moving rapidly toward the idea that no animals should be killed for any reason, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the consequences. Of course, the consequences of such a policy would be disasterous. Here are a few:
-No hunting or angling, therefore the loss of tens of millions of dollars for conservation.
-Increased human-wildife conflict, leading to huge economic losses and loss of human life (e.g. from bird-aircraft collisions, loss of crops, etc.).
-No more invasive species control, and thus many more extinctions of native species and alteration of their habitats.
-Massive overpopulation of pets, with serious consequences for wildlife, human health and the future of the world’s food resources (More than 13% of all marine fish caught today is going to make cat food).
-Heightened danger from zoonotic diseases, such as rabies, toxoplasmosis, etc.