Okay, I really don't know what's going on all of a sudden with New York and New Jersey. It's war on wildlife, and I'm ashamed of it.
New York has already allowed the USDA so-called Wildlife Services to haul off and gas a bunch of geese in the name of keeping the airways safe (their excuse is the need to prevent more incidents like that in which Captain "Sully" Sullenberger made his heroic landing in the Hudson back in January after a goose strike to the engine of US Airways Flight 1549). This after another large goose population was removed from Prospect Park and killed without public input and before anyone knew it was happening (see http://tiny.cc/acex1).
And New Jersey has decided to hold another bear hunt, after the large majority of public comment was firmly against it. But the hunters in this state want it, and the governor got a lot of support from them in his bid for election. So apparently that's that.
We're destroying wildlife without even trying to come up with another way to coexist with it. Killing resident populations of geese will not stop bird strikes from migratory birds (unless, of course, we kill all those, too); parks should be safe havens for animals as well as people. And bear hunting is being authorized without even bothering to enforce ordinances about trash disposal and human feeding of bears. We are in an adversarial relationship with the planet, and if we keep going at this rate there will be nothing left. Not even us.
At least then Mother Nature could get back to cleaning up the mess we've left on the planet. . . .
If you want to protest the killing of the geese, help to prevent it happening again, and advocate more humane methods of population control, call New York's 311 and complain to the mayor, and go to http://tiny.cc/he05u and send a message to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack (yes, the one who jumped the gun and fired Ms. Sherrod last week before even bothering to investigate). Tell him to remember that the USDA does not exist to kill animals.
To save New Jersey's bears, and again to advocate humane methods of dealing with the bear population, call the governor's office at 609-292-6000. Write letters to your local papers. And complain to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. Go here for more information: http://www.savenjbears.com/Home.html
New York has already allowed the USDA so-called Wildlife Services to haul off and gas a bunch of geese in the name of keeping the airways safe (their excuse is the need to prevent more incidents like that in which Captain "Sully" Sullenberger made his heroic landing in the Hudson back in January after a goose strike to the engine of US Airways Flight 1549). This after another large goose population was removed from Prospect Park and killed without public input and before anyone knew it was happening (see http://tiny.cc/acex1).
And New Jersey has decided to hold another bear hunt, after the large majority of public comment was firmly against it. But the hunters in this state want it, and the governor got a lot of support from them in his bid for election. So apparently that's that.
We're destroying wildlife without even trying to come up with another way to coexist with it. Killing resident populations of geese will not stop bird strikes from migratory birds (unless, of course, we kill all those, too); parks should be safe havens for animals as well as people. And bear hunting is being authorized without even bothering to enforce ordinances about trash disposal and human feeding of bears. We are in an adversarial relationship with the planet, and if we keep going at this rate there will be nothing left. Not even us.
At least then Mother Nature could get back to cleaning up the mess we've left on the planet. . . .
If you want to protest the killing of the geese, help to prevent it happening again, and advocate more humane methods of population control, call New York's 311 and complain to the mayor, and go to http://tiny.cc/he05u and send a message to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack (yes, the one who jumped the gun and fired Ms. Sherrod last week before even bothering to investigate). Tell him to remember that the USDA does not exist to kill animals.
To save New Jersey's bears, and again to advocate humane methods of dealing with the bear population, call the governor's office at 609-292-6000. Write letters to your local papers. And complain to the Department of Fish & Wildlife. Go here for more information: http://www.savenjbears.com/Home.html