Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Bearing Witness and Allowing the Light of Day

 
Neglected to be included with yesterday's blog entry regarding possible conflicts of interests of USDA "Wildlife Services" is this excellent Op Ed (by Mary Lou Simms) from this past Sunday which ran in the Brimingham (Alabama) News:
 
 
Unfortunately, New York City is not the only area in the country where geese are rounded up and killed miles from airports under the guise of "airline safety."
 
In fact, USDA Wildlife Services takes in $126.5 million a year (tax dollars) to systematically destroy more than 5 million animals of which thousands of Canada geese are only a small part.
 
The arsenal of Wildlife Services' weapons against wildlife includes but is not limited to, poisons (such as DRC 1339 primarily used on birds), snares, traps, dennings, shootings and of course gassings and slaughter.  
 
A series of investigative articles that recently ran in the Sacramento Bee prompted an Editorial calling for Congressional investigation and hearings into the activities and costs of USDA Wildlife Services programs of hired killing: . 
 
 
It is not after all, just about the illusion of "airline safety" that prompts and funds these programs of mass exterminations.
 
In many communities, one only need put in a call to Wildlife Services to complain about geese on a waterfront lake property and it seems "Johnny on the Spot" USDA will be out the following day with canoes, corrals, crates, trucks and police to round up the geese and send for either gassing or slaughter.
 
Such was the case last year in Delafield., Wisconsin:
 
 
According to the photographer, (Jim Pfeil) a disgruntled and wealthy neighbor with a summer home virtually at the lake's edge didn't like the geese and made the call.
 
So traumatized was Mr. Pfeil by the horrors he witnessed and photographed that morning, he could not eat or sleep for days and could not look at his own photos.  Instead, he sent them to Goosewatch and they are now posted on YouTube for the world to see.
 
But, we need to get similar documentation for the New York City goose roundups soon to occur.
 
Without photos, videos and other recordings of history, these thousands of New York City geese die unseen, unheard, unacknowledged and thus in vain. 
 
Secrecy and clandestine activities should not be the fuel that keeps these tax funded government slaughters going year after year.
 
Anyone living in proximity to a New York City park and in possession of a camera is needed and urged to sign up with Goosewatch immediately:
 
The days of silent, blindfolded killings on lazy summer mornings in New York City need to come to an end.
 
Its time to bear witness and let in the light of day.   -- PCA
 
 
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