The turnout was decent to yesterday's rally to protest Senator Gillibrand's proposed legislation to expand USDA goose killings to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge this summer and other areas. Below is video from yesterday:
But, compared to the tens of thousands of the Occupy Wall Street movement, 100 or so good-hearted people meekly protesting to save geese is not a number to garner any kind of meaningful press attention or truly make a difference.
That is not to say there hasn't been any media coverage of those opposing Gillibrand's misguided "kill geese" bill.
Two articles (of lesser news outlets) actually tackle the issue with some seriousness and fairness -- i.e. presenting both sides of issue:
But, two articles out of the hundreds of media reports and editorials that have run promoting Gillibrand's propaganda and proposed carnage are nothing to stem the tide or even make a dent in it.
I am personally not sure of the proper and effective means of getting the facts and truth out to the public if that cannot be done through major media.
There may be "Freedom of the Press" in this country. But, too often the press doesn't truly utilize that freedom to fully investigate the facts and present all sides of an issue. Its obviously much easier to simply "run" verbatim with press releases -- especially those issued from politicians and government officials.
But, if that is true (and it certainly seems to be) then it is actually quite scary and might explain the rush to war in Iraq before having all the facts or that we almost nominated a candidate for President whose personal life was a shambles, much like a soap opera.
Media generally doesn't seem to properly exercise its "freedoms" much anymore to investigate and report all sides of an issue or story.
If that be the case, then it is not just geese who suffer and die for lack of the truth, but our entire country and the freedoms it is founded upon that are diminished and "threatened."
Among some truths and facts that media has failed to report on the geese and "airline safety" issue:
* Canada geese are very far down on the list of birds that planes frequently collide with. Resident geese in fact, fly very little when comfortably "loafing" in a location. (One reason why so many people complain about geese "not going anywhere.") As long as geese have food, open water and few predators then there is little need for them to fly anywhere. Since they are large birds, flying expends and wastes much more energy for geese than smaller, more active birds. (Of course this general rule doesn't apply when geese are being harassed in a location. In those instances, geese HAVE to fly and theoretically represent a viable "threat" to nearby planes in the air at those times.)
* Almost every media report and article refers back to "Miracle" flight 1549 that landed in the Hudson in 2009 after colliding with two Canada geese. What the media fails to report consistently is that the birds were migratory and originally from Labrador, Canada (as tests done on feathers in engine later determined). Had we killed every goose in the United States in 2009, it would NOT have prevented that incident from occurring with migratory geese from Canada. (Should we kill all the millions of migratory birds who fly through Atlantic flyway?) Also, referring to the flight 1549 incident, the plane suffered engine stall problems on previous flight and almost had to emergency land. THAT is almost never mentioned, but was reported at the time on CNN:
* The USDA and Senator Gillibrand claim that while nothing can totally eliminate bird strikes (short of killing every bird who flies), killing thousands of geese "minimizes" threat.
How does killing flightless birds when they are going through the molt or raising young on a lake or pond "minimize" anything? Surely, the planes aren't gliding across a park pond or Wildlife Refuge! As said, Resident geese rarely fly at all -- except when "pond hopping" in a park and barely covering the trees. I personally know of geese who have never left Central Park. And yet, THEY could be on this year's kill list. There will not be ONE person made "safer" by such killings anymore than anyone was made "safer" when 368 resident geese and their goslings were rounded up and gassed from Prospect Park in 2010. -- Geese who rarely went anywhere.
* Fact: Any bird weighing at least 4 lbs can technically "take down" a 60 ton airliner. That indicates some deficiency in the airliners -- not the birds flying in the skies as they have done for millions of years. If we truly want to solve a problem, then resources have to be directed at the source and cause of the problem (in this case, airliner deficiency) not some outside object or fixture of nature that the source happens to collide with.
One of course could go on and on here with many facts that are not being reported by the press, but it is not this blogger's job to be an "investigative reporter."
The folly is that thousands of innocent geese and their tiny goslings will be rounded up and killed for no legitimate reason this summer (not to mention the taxpayer money wasted on such hapless venture and carnage). But, the killings have far less to do with "human safety" than they do, political opportunity and desire to shield government and the FAA from potential lawsuits should a plane ever go down after hitting any bird.
The real tragedy is that not one human will be made "safer" from the goose massacres and the press will still not be compelled to exercise its "freedoms" to investigate and report the whole truth. -- PCA
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