New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand believes that, in order to protect the safety of airplanes, we need to exterminate geese.
Canada geese have caused two emergency landings in New York in the past week. Geese in the engine of a plane also caused a near-fatal disaster and emergency landing in the Hudson river in 2009.
Along with a piece of legislation introduced to clear roadblocks in the process of culling the geese, Gillibrand stated that:
“We cannot afford to sit back and wait for a catastrophe to occur before cutting through bureaucratic red tape between federal agencies. We cannot and should not wait another day to act while public safety is at risk.”
The legislation focuses on the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, which is the home to thousands of Canada geese, and located near JFK International Airport, where the three geese-related airplane issues occurred.
The law would speed up an environmental study currently going on by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies, and make it easier for the geese to be culled while their are molting in June.
According to wildlife experts, culling the geese while they are molting will be much easier, as they are flightless during that time period. Previous attempts to deal with the annoying birds in New York by collecting and gassing them have been met with large protests from environmentalists.
On a Facebook page dedicated to the geese lost in the 2010 culling of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, one user wrote, “Help us stop impending bird massacre!” With the legislation introduced to lawmakers, it is only a matter of time before the fight between the government (namely Senator Gillibrand) and environmentalists explodes.
Check out more information about Gillibrand’s campaign to kill Canada geese here:
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