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Canada Geese Protest Planned Outside Bloomberg's Mansion
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 6, 2010
Modified Aug 6, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 6, 2010
Modified Aug 6, 2010
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Not happy about all of those Canada geese getting sent to the gas chamber? This Monday (from 6 to 8 p.m.) activists will rally around Mayor Bloomberg's mansion (17 East 79th Street) declaring their disgust for the mass slaughter and demanding protection for urban wildlife.
Since the birds have struck 78 planes in the past 10 years—most famously US Airways Flight 1549, which was forced to land in the Hudson River—city officials have devised a slaughter contract with the USDA's Wildlife Service Division to rid areas around the city's major airports of Canada geese. Bloomberg recently addressed the topic, saying, "It’s geese or human beings—I can tell you where I come out on that."
However, activists don't see it as cut and dry, and are asking the killing spree be killed itself. Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals, said, “New Yorkers resist the claim on our tax dollars for a wildlife massacre. New York should not put a quota on geese.” That quota, by the way, is at around 4,000 geese, according to the official report. She added that Bloomberg and other decision-makers need to be held accountable for the killings she, and others, view as unnecessary.
Priscilla Feral, President of Friends of Animals, explained, “Birds nest, and birds move on. Are guns to be pointed skyward when Tundra swans return to Pennsylvania in November, or when Mute swans fly along the Atlantic Coast? Stop this killing, and let birds be birds.”
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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