2,000 Fewer Geese in New York

It's Canada Goose molting season about now; and it looks like USDA/Wildlife Services will be rounding up about 2,000 geese in New York this month. When geese molt, they loose their flight feathers and re-grow new ones. This means that they are flightless for a couple of weeks. Also, this year's goslings are not flying yet, anyway, so they are easily herded into pens or crates. And the most controversial part of it all is that the birds get euthanized.

When I worked for USDA, I went to great lengths to find organizations who could use the goose meat. In some states we were successful in donating to food banks, but unless you could get someone to donate their time to process the birds, it's very expensive. In other states, there were regulations that would not allow uninspected meat to be served at food banks.

Local reductions of goose populations have been taking place for a long time now, but it looks like the media will be seeking out the stories more actively given the US Air/Hudson ordeal.

In the following video clip, the Audubon guy makes a good point about getting rid of lawns and planting shrubs. While, yes, geese will be less attracted to a shrubby habitat -- is this realistic?! And say that everyone in the entire state of New York decided to convert their lawn to shrubs, where would the geese go? To the nice open grass expanses of airports!!