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Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 3:57 am
by dales
Nuisance Park Geese Will Be Euthanized, Then Fed to Area Homeless
Nearly 300 Canada geese in Maryland are to be killed and offered up at an area food bank. Park officials in a Maryland county are trying to kill two birds with one stone... by killing nearly 300 actual birds.
At two Montgomery County parks, officials plan to euthanize hundreds of nuisance Canada geese and then offer them up to a food bank to help feed area homeless.
Officials who say the geese are a health hazard have been trying and failing to deal with their overpopulation at area golf courses, parks, lakes and recreational fields, the Washington Post reports.
The geese will be removed from Martin Luther King Jr. park in White Oak and Rock Creek Regional park near Lake Needwood.
The birds set for the chopping block are what officials call "resident" geese because they stay in the region year-round.
Other Canada geese spend the summers in northern Canada and return to the region in winter.
The geese are a nuisance, officials say, mainly because of their bathroom habits.
"These geese are year-round residents and create multiple issues for park users and staff. The excessive feces they leave, up to one pound daily, is not only unsightly but causes unsanitary conditions around bodies of water, docks, pathways, athletic fields and lawn areas," Dave Petersen, Natural Resources Specialist for Montgomery Parks, said in a press release.
The geese also tend to tear up turf, damage shorelines and wander onto roadways.
They'll be euthanized starting this month and into July. Once processed, the meat will be donated to the Maryland Food Bank.
Which begs the question: will the so-called homeless refuse to eat what is placed before them?
Perhaps they can eat squab (pigeon) instead?
More panache, doncha know.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:13 am
by Scooter
I don't have anything against it on principle, but animals raised for slaughter are subject to inspection to ensure they aren't diseased. Will similar standards apply here, or are we not supposed to care whether the meat is tainted because it's going to feed the homeless?
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:31 am
by Bicycle Bill
Scooter wrote:I don't have anything against it on principle, but animals raised for slaughter are subject to inspection to ensure they aren't diseased. Will similar standards apply here, or are we not supposed to care whether the meat is tainted because it's going to feed the homeless?
We're not supposed to care, because the powers that be don't care either. Otherwise they wouldn't be cracking down on more legitimate food sources for the homeless/working poor, as you yourself pointed out
in this thread.
Besides, if these same birds were to be shot in-season by hunters as they flew between the lake and local cornfields and other food sources
(like in Rochester MN, another community that also plays host to a large population of resident geese) nobody would say a word about the health concerns of someone taking them home and making a meal off them.
-"BB"-
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:05 pm
by Burning Petard
No free lunch. These geese eat bugs in the grass--including ticks. Where do you think that one pound of used food comes from?
I volunteer regularly in a local 'soup kitchen' We never serve soup. I do see more food than I would like go from tray to garbage can, but there is just too much hunger out there to turn down any food source. Many local jurisdictions have proviso for road kill deer to be 'harvested' and the meat given to charity. More surprising in this story is that it is happening at all. Too many times these year-round Canada Geese are heavily protected by animal lovers who think the geese are more important than people. There are lots of places in this region where such geese are a nuisance and a year-round hazard at the local airport.
Sometimes there are other aspects. They certainly made it easier to train my German Wire-Haired Pointer to hunt.
(((((snailgate)))))
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:01 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
The year 'round canadian geese should be eliminated where ever they are a nuisance. Nasty birds.
If some good comes of it, great.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:11 pm
by rubato
Bicycle Bill wrote: "... nobody would say a word about the health concerns of someone taking them home and making a meal off them.
-"BB"-
Filled with lead shot.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:15 pm
by rubato
Canada geese have over-populated to the point they are a pest species. Over the past 30 years we have gone from almost no geese in summer to large urban populations in the bay area tearing up the grass (their main food source). Some parks hire people with dogs to harass them into leaving. Ok, that's good employment for workng dogs so it's not a total negative.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:29 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
And they only chase the geese from one area to another. Then teh next area calls, the dogs go out again and so on until they are back at the original area.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 5:56 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Yes, they should shoot Canada geese too
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:29 pm
by rubato
oldr_n_wsr wrote:And they only chase the geese from one area to another. Then teh next area calls, the dogs go out again and so on until they are back at the original area.
Full employment for working dogs!
yrs,
rubato
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 7:39 pm
by Burning Petard
Hunting geese, and any waterfowl, with lead shot has been illegal for many years.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:17 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Burning Petard wrote:Hunting geese, and any waterfowl, with lead shot has been illegal for many years.
Next thing you will tell us that semi-automatic rifles do not keep firing when the trigger is continuously held in.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:50 pm
by BoSoxGal
In what way do they euthanize them so that they're edible?
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:54 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
They smother each one with a tiny pillow?
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:30 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
I think I read about killing them with carbon dioxide. But I could be mistaken.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:08 pm
by rubato
BoSoxGal wrote:In what way do they euthanize them so that they're edible?
With chickens we would take the head in one hand and place our fingers under the beak and thumb at the base of the skull flexing the head far backwards on the neck. then we would pull sharply on the legs holding them above the knobby joint until you felt the neck bones give way so that the bird 'stretched' a little.
I bet its the same deal with geese. Just a little harder tug is all.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:09 pm
by rubato
MajGenl.Meade wrote:They smother each one with a tiny pillow?
They play Leonard Cohen records until the geese kill themselves.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:29 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Now that's funny.
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 7:53 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
Indeed so!
Re: Killing Two Birds With One Stone -or- Bon Apetite
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 8:07 pm
by dales
rubato wrote:MajGenl.Meade wrote:They smother each one with a tiny pillow?
They play Leonard Cohen records until the geese kill themselves.
yrs,
rubato
LMAO!
