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Canada Geese Slaughter Season Is Upon Us, Will This Year's Fallen Flock Become Dinner?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 24, 2011
Modified Jun 24, 2011
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 24, 2011
Modified Jun 24, 2011
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Photo by Anne-Katrin Titze
It's goose slaughtering season again! Last year Canada geese were killed all over the city, which particularly upset Brooklyn residents, who lost nearly 400 geese from Prospect Park. This year the Prospect Park geese seem safe, and aren't on the list to be brought to the gas chamber—earlier today waterfowl friend Anne-Katrin Titze sent us the above photo of them "celebrating" the news this morning.
However, there are still at least 800 geese on the city's hit list, which CityRoom reports will be rounded up from parks in the next several weeks—the Department of Environmental Protection didn't give any details on dates or locations, however, saying they “don’t want lots of people looking around or gathering.” However, this year’s planned slaughter is a part of an existing contract taken out in 2009 (and renewed in 2010), which ends on June 30th, 2011.
Is it possible that the slaughtered geese may end up on someone's dinner plate? Recently word got out that they may be sent to Pennsylvania food banks. We called around to New York's food banks to find out if they'd be getting in on the action, too. The Food Bank for NYC told us:
"If this were 100% donation at no cost to the Food Bank for NYC, and the product was 100% FDA approved, we would be happy to accept it. The reason the geese were being sent to PA is because they had a plant that was able to process it. It's possible the FDA is looking at plans to have a center set up in NYC, but I'm not sure."
A woman from the Riverside Public Relations on behalf of City Harvest also told us they'd have no problem accepting the donation, saying:
"Donating the geese to City Harvest would prevent them from going to waste in a time when many of our neighbors are in need of food. We would able to safely take the meat as long as the geese were slaughtered in USDA Verified or New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets inspected facilities."
Patrick Kwan of the Humane Society of the U.S. calls the move a "PR maneuver to justify a costly and unnecessary slaughter that is inhumane, ineffective and not supported by science." This year it seems like the geese may be Pennsylvania bound, but in the future should the fallen flocks become dinner for locals in need?
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canada geese
dinner
donations
food banks
slaughter
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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