All That is Necessary for the Triumph of the Geese Killers is for Us To Do Nothing
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Franziska, Peace for Geese Project / Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN)
August 2014

Silly you. Did you think you could take a nap? You can’t EVER nap. Because the Other Side never sleeps.

ACTION


goose geese slaughterAllowing, by our apathy, the slaughter of Canada geese for reasons of selfishness and convenience is dangerous, not least because it allows an abusive mindset to grow. We do not need even ONE new USDA killer to be offered a job, one that will then need to be justified by more goose killing.

The petition for the geese on Change.org, asking Puget Sound area officials to stop killing geese has 1,300 signatures and is growing very slowly. 1,300 people against gassing geese families?? Even Ms. Glass-All-Empty here knows THAT isn’t true. Have you signed? Have your friends? Have your family members? You know how the whole situation would change if half a million names were on that petition?!

Please, sign the petition and share this link as widely as posible:
Puget Sound Area Officials: Stop Killing Canada Geese

Contact information available on this PDF. Please use it!

Please join Peace for Geese Project on Facebook

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

The public appears to have entered an era of indifference to the plight of Canada geese trying to coexist with humans. The major newspapers and news stations are utterly uninterested in running any geese stories. Not “newsworthy enough”. This kind of don’t-give-a-shit atmosphere is EXACTLY what communities and law enforcement and the USDA like best of all: prime goose-slaughter conditions.

The lone standouts: City Living Seattle will be running an article by Christie Lagally, it looks as if the Woodinville Weekly will do one, and you may also see letters to the editor by Diane Weinstein. Please, when you do, comment and write your own letters; let editors know this is a subject that still matters a LOT to a LOT of noisy, articulate, persistent people.

Allowing, by our apathy, the slaughter of Canada geese for reasons of selfishness and convenience is dangerous, not least because it allows an abusive mindset to grow. We do not need even ONE new USDA killer to be offered a job, one that will then need to be justified by more goose killing.

USDA Wildlife Services has been lethally removing Canada Geese from the Puget Sound area for 13 years under an interlocal agreement between several cities and entities within this region. The geese are being rounded up in our parks and gassed to death or shot on Lake Washington, as well as elsewhere. In 2013, nearly 1200 geese were killed by Wildlife Services in just King County alone.

Many humane solutions can be utilized to mitigate conflicts with geese in urban areas. These include reduction of populations through egg addling, use of OvoControl-G (a proven oral birth control method for geese), and sterilization. Various other measures to reduce conflicts include: landscape modifications, goose deterrent products and control techniques, automated devices to clean up goose droppings, and education and public outreach on the need to stop feeding waterfowl.

Health concerns are often cited in order to justify the killing of geese. However, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) web site, “Canada geese are not considered to be a significant source of any infectious disease transmittable to humans or domestic animals.”

The members of the 2014 interlocal agreement to kill geese include Bellevue, Kent, Kirkland, Mountlake Terrace, Port of Seattle - Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Renton, Seattle Parks and Recreation, SeaTac, Tacoma Metro Parks, Tukwila, Woodinville, and the University of Washington.

Killing geese creates a void in the environment, other geese quickly move in, and a new round of killing begins. This creates an endless cycle of killing. The brutal killing of thousands of geese including their newborn goslings is unacceptable. We must do a better job of sharing the earth with wildlife.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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