Animal activists say they will
continue to fight against any future gassing of resident Canada geese in
Ocean County parks.
Asbury Park Press
Written by
Paula Scully | Staff Writer
December 5, 2011
Animal activists say they will continue to fight against any future
gassing of resident Canada geese in Ocean County parks.
David Sauder, founder of Animal Rights Activists of New Jersey, a group
of 360 (Dave's correction: 650) people, obtained a copy of a permit from
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowing the killing of up to 500
geese in Ocean County parks between Aug. 1, 2011, and July 31, 2012.
Sixty were killed at Stanley H. "Tip" Seaman Park in Tuckerton before
the Ocean County Decoy and Gunning Show in September, he said.
Armed with that information, activists held up a banner with the words
"60 geese killed in park by Ocean County. 440 to go" during a one-hour
demonstration by six (Dave's correction: 8) people Nov. 19 on the
right-of-way along Route 9 outside the park.
Freeholder John Bartlett said the county first tried nonlethal methods
to remove the resident geese from county parks, but those methods didn't
work. He said the geese pose a health hazard and a danger to children
who could slip on the droppings.
"I'm not saying it's a nice thing to remove the geese," Bartlett said.
"We have tried almost all nonlethal methods: the Geese Police (dog
patrols), noise machines, whistles, silhouettes of foxes on the beach.
"It was suggested that if you plant tall material against the lake, they
wouldn't want to stay there because they couldn't see predators. With
nonlethal methods, the resident geese fly away but then they fly back,"
Bartlett said. "We even tried fake alligators, and they didn't recognize
them. The only thing left was to contract with the USDA (U.S. Department
of Agriculture) to remove them, and it worked."
Bartlett said the county was able to reopen parks after the geese were
removed. "The only thing that changed was (the presence of) the geese.
We no longer had a health hazard," he said.
Sauder said there is mixed scientific opinion about the health hazard of
geese, referring to a May 2010 posting on the website of the Humane
Society of the United States under "wildlifeneighbors."
"In my opinion, one of the reasons the goose population is so abundant
in New Jersey is because we create ideal habitats in suburban
development with perfect man-made lakes and retention ponds with
manicured lawns around them that are a banquet for geese," Sauder said.
The problem with cardboard predator cutouts, he said, is that they are
not moved frequently enough to be believable, even to geese. Sauder said
that riprap, such as large stones 6 inches in diameter, can be used to
surround lakes or ponds, making water less enticing because geese are
not inclined to walk on them. He also recommended placing balloons to
scare geese away. Or the grass can be treated with a grape flavor that
the geese dislike, he said.
"In this economy, the county probably has economic concerns and decided
on the $20,699 permit and to have the federal government remove the
geese," Sauder said.
Bartlett said: "We spend millions of dollars to build and maintain
parks. We aren't going to spend millions of dollars for an invasive
species. They weren't here 20 years ago."
Please make your opinion known
Contact the Ocean Country Freeholders at:
http://www.co.ocean.nj.us/ContactFreeholdersPage.aspx
Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari
Freeholder Gerry P. Little
Freeholder John C. Barlett Jr., Chairman, Finance and Parks & Recreation
Freeholder John P. Kelly
Freeholder James F. Lacey
Office of the Freeholders
101 Hooper Ave.
Toms River, NJ 08753
The phone number is: (732) 244-2121
An example of a letter to the Board of Freeholds is below:
Freeholder Little, I am writing to express my opposition to the recent
killing of geese at Tip Seaman Park in Tuckerton, NJ, and the planned
killing of a total of 500 geese in Ocean County Parks thru 7/31/12. I
encourage the Freeholder board to utilize only non-lethal methods to
manage the geese in Ocean County. Go to the following The Humane
Society of The United States websites to learn how to manage geese
without killing them. Go to:
http://humanesociety.org/wildneighbors
and
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/geese/tips/solving_problems_canada_
geese.html#Public_health_and_Canada_geese .
Regarding the belief that geese are a health hazard HSUS states,
"Scientific studies do not show that goose droppings pose any special
health threats. Obviously, people want to avoid contact with any animal
droppings. Ordinary good hygiene, such as washing hands and leaving
shoes at the door, are adequate prevention if you accidentally contact
animal droppings."
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Thanks to all of you for attempting to stop the killing.