Gassing of 2000 Geese Must Stop NOW!

Ignizio@council.nyc.ny.us, rjackson@council.nyc.gov, ljames@council.nyc.gov, katz@council.nyc.ny.us, okoppell@council.nyc.gov, lappin@council.nyc.gov, liu@council.nyc.gov, mviverito@council.nyc.gov, martinez@council.nyc.ny.us, darlene.mealy@council.nyc.gov, rmendez@council.nyc.gov, kmitchell@council.nyc.gov, nelson@council.nyc.ny.us, palma@council.nyc.ny.us, recchia@council.nyc.ny.us, rivera@council.nyc.ny.us, jsanders@council.nyc.gov, seabrook@council.nyc.ny.us, sears@council.nyc.ny.us, vacca@council.nyc.ny.us, avann@council.nyc.gov, weprin@council.nyc.ny.us, twhite@council.nyc.gov, yassky@council.nyc.ny.us

allen.l.gosser@aphis.usda.gov, martin.s.lowney@aphis.usda.gov, InspectorGeneral@panynj.gov, avella@council.nyc.ny.us, baez@council.nyc.ny.us, brewer@council.nyc.ny.us, comrie@council.nyc.ny.us, ecrowley@council.nyc.gov, deblasio@council.nyc.ny.us, dickens@council.nyc.gov, emdilan@council.nyc.ny.us, mathieu.eugene@council.nyc.gov, felder@council.nyc.gov, jferreras@council.nyc.gov, LFidler@council.nyc.gov, foster@council.nyc.ny.us, garodnick@council.nyc.ny.us, jgennaro@council.nyc.gov, vgentile@council.nyc.gov, agerson@council.nyc.gov, gioia@council.nyc.ny.us, gonzalez@council.nyc.ny.us

Dear Mayor Bloomberg, Port Authority of NY & NJ, and USDA-APHIS Wildlife
Services State Director:

I am shocked New York City intends to gas up to 2,000 Canada geese this summer. Please implement non-violent ways to safeguard people from airplane collisions with birds. I hope public outrage will convince you to cancel this misguided initiative.

Certainly the recently formed NYC Wildlife Hazard Management Steering Committee to Promote Aviation Safety within the Metropolitan Area can devise a better solution than mass killing. I urge Mayor Bloomberg, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and the USDA-APHIS-WS State Director to employ non-lethal management of Canada geese. A sweeping eradication shows no long-term commitment to reduce flock growth.

When geese are destroyed - without modifying landscapes and waterways that attracted them in the first place - replacement geese soon fill the void.

There are seven GeesePeace chapters in New York alone. All specialize in population stabilization and site aversion. GeesePeace relies on integrated strategies that are long lasting. They demonstrate how to recruit and train community volunteers to find nests, addle/oil eggs, use repellents and other applications on a scale that solves conflicts with "resident" Canada geese.

It is particularly inhumane to ambush geese when molting and flightless. Yet that is how goslings and adults will be trapped on municipal properties
surrounding Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

Communities nationwide have successfully used non-violent tactics to significantly reduce flock growth. I am counting on airport biologists, elected officials, and the Port Authority to ramp up bird-radar and scare tactic programs at airports -- but leave the killing out of it.

Sincerely,