Gaston County, North Carolina called in the feds to gas 144 Canada Geese because they didn’t like the mess they were making at Dallas Park. But there's no excuse for this cruelty.
Gassing is a slow and painful death, especially for birds, but even so, says the Raleigh Telegram, USDA officials have gassed thousands of geese since 1999 at the request of municipalities and even private landowners.
Though they claim goose poop is a health hazard, Canada Geese.Org posts several studies showing science doesn‘t support that claim. But there’s overwhelming evidence that killing geese doesn’t solve population problems of any kind, while non-lethal controls do.
Gaston claimed it “tried everything” before gassing these geese, but there’s no evidence of this either, say some locals. Gaston should stop making excuses for this cruelty and for being too lazy to adopt humane and effective methods of controlling geese populations.
Tell Gaston County to stop gassing Canada Geese!
We, the undersigned, say there is no excuse or justification for Gaston County’s inhumane killing of these geese.
Though the breeding of this bird was once encouraged, recent success of that program has resulted in a population of geese that some see as a nuisance. However, websites abound on the numerous and more effective methods of controlling geese populations. Canade Geese.Org provides a complete two-part report on the subject, as well as revealing the scam behind the health threat claims.
Local resident Becky Moser noted in her opinion piece in the Gaston Gazette that Gaston County Parks and Recreation “had plenty of time…to address this issue effectively and, yes, humanely.” She also noted that they didn’t even bother to post a sign warning the public not to feed the geese, which is one of the fist and most important methods of control. Neither, says Moser, has the county accepted an offer from NC Waterfowl Rescue to help formulate a humane plan for managing the problem.
It seems apparent that Gaston County could have avoided this cruelty. We request that it take the proper steps to do so in the future and stop gassing geese under any circumstances.
Thanks for your time.
