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There is no kind or easy season for Canada geese -- especially in New York State.
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In the spring, the geese are endlessly harassed and/or their eggs oiled and destroyed.
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In the summer (when molting and flightless), they are subjected to USDA WS captures and slaughters.
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And during the fall and late winter, more than 50,000 Canada geese are blown out of the skies of New York by hunters.
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On the latter point, the hunting season and goose bag limits have just been expanded by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on Canada geese:
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I am not a scientist nor biologist.
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Rather, I am an ordinary citizen who simply respects and appreciates wildlife (especially, Canada geese) and likes watching nature shows on the National Geographic channel. (Nat Geo Wild).
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But, one cannot help but question and wonder why 200,000 geese for the entire state of New York is deemed "overpopulation" and why the "goal" is to reduce that population to "85,000" -- less than half of what it supposedly is now.
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New York is one of the largest states in the nation.
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More than a million humans can be accommodated in the tiny space of Times Square on New Year's Eve. More than 85,000 people typically fill up a football stadium.
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But we are to believe that 200,000 geese cannot be accommodated in the entire state of New York?
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Perhaps my days as a poor math student are coming back to haunt, but something just doesn't compute in these numbers.
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One wonders who exactly are the people who sit in offices somewhere in Washington, DC (i.e. Department of Interior) or upstate New York and figure out what "optimum" populations of animals are and how precisely do we get there?
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Are such determinations based upon actual science or rather, public complaint?
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"Ah, some farmer complained about geese near Lake Champlain and a grandmother complained about the geese in Port Washington. Bring out the big guns."
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Currently, I am only seeing one Canada goose in Central Park. -- a goose whose entire family was likely wiped out this past June by USDA WS.
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Will a target be placed over Cago's head too, as she is deemed "overabundant" by the DEC?
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Almost all animals in nature enjoy some kind of relatively peaceful and easy season -- a time when food and water supplies are plentiful and the weather is calm. For most animals, this time is spring (and summer) when easy conditions allow for the animals to rejuvenate, repopulate and compensate for any losses suffered over the year. ("Turn, turn, turn. For every time, there is a purpose.")
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But, not so for Canada geese.
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There is no time in fact, when these birds can peacefully breathe in the air, look around them and not see either teams of Border Collies coming to harass them, humans with umbrellas to chase them off and oil their eggs, men in USDA WS uniforms coming to kill them or rifles and arrows pointed in their direction.
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There is a forever target placed over the heads of Canada geese any day or time of the year.
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And we as a dumb "lay people" can only question and doubt bible quotes and wonder why. -- PCA
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