Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:11:38 -0500 From: Taffy Williams Subject: Fwd: CONTACT SCARSDALE, NY RE GEESE SLAUGHTER To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Please write a few words to save some beloved geese here in Westchester. Yonkers destroyed almost 500 geese last year; now Scarsdale wants to create another killing spree. From: Humane Westchester <[email protected]> Date: January 17, 2013 11:32:22 PM EST Subject: CONTACT SCARSDALE, NY RE GEESE SLAUGHTER *********************** PLEASE CROSS POST ***************************
As many of you know, the Village of Scarsdale has voted to do a mass killing of their geese residents in March. We would obviously like them to not do this, and to instead treat the geese with decency, respect and compassion.
A similar situation arose recently in the City of Yonkers, wherein hundreds of geese were killed at a local golf course. With intervention by experts and concerned citizens we were able to get Yonkers to agree to use humane disbursal methods, particularly an item called ‘The Goosinator.’ This was covered extensively in the local media as well.
Both venues used the excuse of donating the geese flesh to a local food pantry; but the fact is this flesh is contaminated and must be extensively tested for safety. With the cost of slaughter at over $5000 plus the expense of testing, this ‘donation’ costs taxpayers appx $20 a pound. Furthermore, Mary Brosnahan, the Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless, deplores both the killing of the geese and the municipalities ‘spin’ on feeding them to the homeless, saying in response to the slaughter in Yonkers, ‘In addition to the incalculable moral and ethical costs such needless killing entails, there is the federal inspection and proper testing of the flesh for possible contaminants – if that was even done. If not done, then Westchester food banks participated in a dangerous double standard in which poor men, women and children ate unregulated and insufficiently inspected flesh.’
The press has been notified and will be covering this story, as they did in Yonkers. They have already contacted the Scarsdale Board of Trustees including the mayor, and we are in the process of arranging a meeting with the Board.
Please be so kind as to contact the following members of the Scarsdale Board of Trustees with very polite objections to the proposed slaughter; urge them to decently stop any plans to kill the geese. During molting, the birds cannot fly; they and their babies will be easily trapped and likely gassed while they struggle to breathe – that is the ‘humane’ slaughter the various venues tout.
If you are a Scarsdale resident, please make note of that in your communication to the Bd of Trustees – and please let us know as well. Some facts about geese appear below.
MIRIAM FLISSER, MAYOR
[email protected]
WAYNE D. ESANNASON, VILLAGE ATTORNEY [email protected]
AL GATTA, VILLAGE MANAGER [email protected]
JASON MARRA,
SUPT. PARKS, REC AND CONSERVATION [email protected]
JANE VERON, PLANNING BD CHAIR [email protected]
SOME FACTS ABOUT GEESE:
– mate for life and will stay together
throughout the year
– are federally protected by the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
Mating season is February – early April, which is when they are most vulnerable and cannot fly.
Geese return to the area of their birth each year
to mate and nest.
They are protective of their babies and nurture them just as people do.
Some items currently used to avoid killing geese are border collies,
The Goosinator, Geesebusters, and Naturesweep (a tidying
and whisking service)
**For more facts and information visit www.wildlifewatch.org and www.goosewatchnyc.org
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR HELPING THE GEESE AND BEING THEIR VOICE
WESTCHESTER4GEESE
[email protected]
ANIMAL DEFENDERS OF WESTCHESTER
WWW.ADOW.ORG
Take Flight Goose Management, LLC
Taffy Williams
New York Whale and Dolphin Action League
PO Box 273
Yonkers, NY 10707 USA
914-793-9186
914-395-0017 fax
www.ny4whales.org
Because when we save whales we save ourselves.