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Dog Scare Tactics To Tame Goose Population
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 18, 2010
Modified Nov 18, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 18, 2010
Modified Nov 18, 2010
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Park officials are planning to bring a border collie in to Prospect Park to control the Canada geese population there. Earlier this year the Feds rounded up hundreds of the park's geese and brought them to a gas chamber at JFK Airport (seriously, why is there a gas chamber at the airport?), but locals were upset over the eradication and rallied around their feathered friends. If the collie plan pans out, it would come with a trainer during the early summer to frighten the birds away before their feathers molt.
Park administrator Tupper Thomas has now told the Daily News, "We don't want to be a place where the federal government feels they want to come in and remove them. This is the most humane way that we won't end up with a batch of geese." That may be true, but local animal activists still aren't happy; Mary Beth Artz says the collie plan, which has been used at Central Park in the past, is "harassment," and that she "could see copycats going in there with their own dogs and scaring the geese."
Another plan to protect the geese includes fining park-goers for feeding the birds, and coating goose-egg shells with oil, preventing them from hatching. Should locals be given a chance to determine the fate of the geese, as Staten Islanders are being given regarding their wild turkey population?
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prospect park
border collie
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canada geese
dogs
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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