Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services State Director Martin Lowney today announced a comprehensive set of safety measures to reduce the population of Canada geese near City airports and on properties owned by the City.
The safety measures include removal of Canada geese from select City-owned properties, new efforts to discourage Canada geese from landing on Rikers Island – which is less than one mile from LaGuardia Airport’s runways – and new signage in City parks. These safety measures are the first set of actions taken by the New York City Wildlife Hazard Management Steering Committee, formed earlier this year to coordinate Canada geese and other wildlife mitigation efforts in the New York Metropolitan area.
“The serious dangers that Canada geese pose to aviation became all to clear when geese struck US Airways Flight 1549,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Thanks to the heroic efforts of Captain Sullenberger, the Flight 1549 crew, local ferry boat operators and the City’s emergency response agencies, no lives were lost. But the incident served as a catalyst to strengthen our efforts in removing geese from, and discouraging them from nesting on, City property near our runways.”
In addition to the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549, there have been 77 goose strikes with aircraft in New York over the past 10 years, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The State Department of Environmental Conservation states that the Metropolitan region, encompassing New York City; Nassau; Suffolk; Rockland; and Westchester counties, has an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 resident Canada geese.
The City of New York is contracting with the USDA to remove Canada geese from approximately 40 parks, wastewater treatment plants, and various City-owned properties within five miles of JFK and LaGuardia Airports. USDA and City personnel will remove and dispose of Canada geese from targeted areas, including Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and Fort Totten Park, during the molting season from the middle of June through the end of July.
(Dov Gordon – YWN)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
10 Responses
Finally. these birds are a major nuisance. They have taken over. When I was younger, the lake near my home was full of mallard ducks and toads. Since the Candian Geese came into the area, the ducks left and the toads disappeared. Their dropping being left all over the grass, made it impossible for us to play on. Something needs to be done, as humanely as possible.
Funny thing, here in Canada they don’t have airplanes crash into them. Are they disorientated in the US of A or should they be renamed American geese?
I know that there is technology around Pearson Int. Airport (YYZ) that emits sounds that deter birds from flying in the take-off and landing air lanes.
Canada Geese not canadian
YWN Editor,
They are called Canada Geese NOT Canadian Geese. The Canucks have enough problems.
canada – geese drop over a pound of droppings a day, all of it into our backyards where our children are supposed to play causing the playgrounds, parks and gardens to become toxic. i feel bad for those geese, but i feel worse for human beings who are in danger because of them; be it on an airplane or in one’s own garden.
To: #5 “isha kshaira” — re the problem of droppings… There are both electronic and chemical means to repel the geese and keep them away from your property. You should look into it.
I believe at Pearson airport they have trained birds that chase away the unwanted flying creatures in the vicinity.
Great. These geese are so annoying!! Their all over the parks, been on my lawn, IN MY POOL….!!!!! Get rid of them fast
5,
There is no reason to feel bad for them. KILL THEM!!
I am appalled at the lack of respect for brios Hashem I see on this page. All I see is about “me, me, me”. “So annoying, they poop…”, and other childish-sounding self-centered comments. Awwww….and for this they should be KILLED? DNA analysis has shown that the geese involved in the plane being downed in the river were MIGRATORY geese from Canada, not the resident Canada geese that live here in our parks.
There are several ways to cut down on the numbers of Canada geese which do not involve the horrific way in which they are being killed now as per orders of that disgusting Doomberg. The eggs can be coated with vegetable oil so that they do not hatch, they can be addled (shaken) so that they do not hatch, the landscaping around attractive ponds can be altered to make them less attractive, and there are companies who supply trained border collies to harass them from certain areas.
Geese mate for life and are devoted parents. They are rounding up entire families of geese, babies included. They are stuffing them into a dark box, which itself is very stressing. And then they are pumping gas into the box to kill them, which takes FIFTEEN TO TWENTY MINUTES. All during which they are heard thumping around in a vain attempt to escape their slow and unnecessary cruel death.
I would hope that frum Jews, whose life is shaped by a Torah which emphasizes humanity to animals, would have a more humane and mature response to hearing that 2,000 of these innocent creatures are being rounded up and subjected to this cruel death. Instead, I see this appalling “me, me, me” echoed over and over again here. Absolutely disgusting. What a slap in the face to their Creator.