In the city of Denver, the Canada geese better fly away if they can. The United States Department of Agriculture has been rounding them up and killing them for food.
According to CPRNews, there are about 5,000 geese living in the city. The USDA states the birds are overgrazing, dropping too much excrement and feathers and messing up swimming pools, docks, lawns and recreational areas.
“The birds have led to increased human-wildlife conflicts in parks, vegetation destruction, sanitation concerns, poor water quality and other maintenance challenges,” stated USDA spokesperson Suzanne Bond.
“We get so many complaints about people coming out here with a blanket to sit on the grass and they cannot…”
And so the culling began in a time when the geese molt in June and July and are not able to fly. Officials say the meat of the geese is safe for humans, but that has yet to be decided.
Canada geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Act, but Denver Parks and Recreation have received permission to kill the birds. In the past, efforts to manage the bird population have included coating the eggs with corn oil so they don’t hatch. The mother bird doesn’t know that, and therefore doesn’t lay anymore eggs. Now officials state that didn’t work, so they decided to kill the birds instead.
The roundup at City Park included wildlife managers in kayaks and others wading into ponds forcing the birds into a corral. Unable to fly, the birds hissed and honked and desperately tried to escape. Then they were all loaded into crates and carted away to be killed. It is unknown where the birds ended up.
Animal advocates have fired back and state the donating meat rhetoric is nothing more than a “sales pitch.” The city plans to kill 2,200 geese and so far have captured and killed 500.
What do you think?
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Temper tantrum!
ARE THEY STUPID OR JUST PLAIN INSANE?! CERTAiNLY PETITIONS AND OTHER LEGAL ACTIONS COULD STOP THIS HORROR!
Denver Colorado huh. Those USDA people must be smoking some funny stuff to think that killing innocent birds is a good solution to this problem. The criminal who came up with this plan is the one who should be killed, not the birds. I’m sure there are many experts in the field of wildlife management who can offer better solutions than this; find one or more and follow their advice. This is just another example of government abuse of power.