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Taking a goose that has been living in a farmer's corn field: Tastes great!

One that has been frequenting front lawns and golf courses: Tastes like lawn fertilizer.

What does one from an Edgewater condo complex taste like? Cheetos, stale bread, and whatever else the locals are feeding them?

Had goose for Christmas dinner one year at a friend's place in London. Yummmm!

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You ever hear about the disappearing ducks of Minneapolis? After an influx of Laotian Hmong refugees in the 70's people noticed there were far fewer ducks in the duckponds. These resourceful people saw no reason all these fat, fearless waterfowl should go to waste and were snaring them for dinner. It took some convincing to get them to stop.

Given that the local immigrant community is notorious for fish poaching, one wonders why they're not reducing the goose population? I guess slipping a short striper into your trunk is easier than capturing a goose on an open lawn with no witnesses.

I would hate to see most of you behind the wheel.

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2/3rd of the State of NJ is either under the Green Acres program or under restricted deed (can only be farmland or no development allowed such as the Pine Barrons).

We actually have a lot more wildlife now than we did 50 years ago. The reasons are many: better wildlife management, re-forestation, much cleaner water, etc. Now we have a problem of over-population (i.e. deer & bear).

Geese were 'rare' here decades back because they still migrated. Over time, their behavior changed as they adapted. Staying put in an urban area is better for them. This is what pigeons did in the past and what wild turkeys, ospreys, and hawks are doing now (yes.. we have wild turkeys in JC).

Coyotes and Coywolves are also moving into the area. However, the former enjoys eating people's house pets and the latter will form packs and kill people. So I don't think the predator option is going to work.

In the end, you are going to have people killing geese.

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There are predators of geese, like coyotes, foxes, and some of the larger birds of prey. Geese used to be pretty rare around here until we insisted that every unpaved space in the country be covered in short cut grass. It is our fault that geese are everywhere, so please forgive some people for thinking they shouldn't die uncomfortable deaths as a result.

Finally this has made me realise what those wolves are for on that company's front lawn down on Burma Road!

Each time I drive kids out to Caven Point I say "Anyone seen the wolves?"

Robin.

It sounds like the city has tried all those population management tips with dogs and silhouettes etc. I would love to know what other solutions these PETA type groups have to offer? What could they educate them about?




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Protesters are urging the council to consider more humane methods of reducing the geese population, including habitat modification, enforcing laws that prohibit the public from feeding the animals and using noise or other devices to scare the geese away.

An online petition demands that the council break its contract with the USDA and instead employ "effective nonlethal, humane methods" to reduce the numbers.

"The capture, gassing, and killing of Canada geese is not effective at solving geese conflicts and any reduction in the population is temporary," states a letter included with a petition on Change.org.

"The League of Humane Voters of NJ and other organizations are willing to work with the town council to educate residents, property owners, and management companies about how to humanely and effectively solve geese conflicts."

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Zactly right! Not just that, but the "we took their environment" argument falls flat when we're talking about dense urban development, which arguably does the best job of habitat preservation by concentrating people in cities and leaving real wild places alone. There's simply too many of them because, like deer, they love the environments we create: lots of food and no predators.

No.. this isn't their "natural" habitat. Canadian geese used to head North to breeding grounds in Canada around March or April. There natural habitat this time a year is not around here starting in spring. As a little kid I saw the sky would almost darken with them around the Navesink (a pit stop for them on the way North or South).

I think it was in the late '70s or very early '80s the Canadian goose population crashed. I think it was determined an epidemic of a form of avian flu during the breeding season was to blame. The population further crashed in the early '90s due to really harsh / long winters in Canada (Mt. Pinatubo to blame for at least part of that) that froze out their breeding grounds. So hunting of geese was banned or severely restricted for a while.

The problem was that the restrictions also included Canadian geese (like the ones we have here now) that no longer migrate. The geese adapted to living here full time (they love green lawns as food). Since then, the population of non migrating geese has exploded.

Too many geese creates all sorts or problem: from aircraft forcing to crash land in the Hudson due to bird strikes to spiking fecal coliform levels in rivers and lakes to dangerous levels (this includes the reservoirs we get our drinking water from). Geese shit like pigs.

Each goose craps over a pound of poop a day. I'm happy to have less of these interlopers from the Great White North.

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Oh, please. Your home destroyed some animals' habitat. Feel free to put your money where your mouth is by moving out and living in the wilderness first.

You also haven't address anyone's counter-points in this thread. You're just spamming without any basis.

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Ridiculous post and off-thread.

Those geese are obnoxious and mean suckers, not to mention the mess they leave. From the "experts" on the topic:

"The state is home to one of the densest Canada geese population in the country, numbering at around 80,000 birds. The Atlantic Flyway Council, a waterfowl hunting management organization, recommends about half that number as a manageable level."

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And what does this have to do with geese?

HA -- Concern for safety of the children is brought to you by the very same officials who thought firewalls were really not needed. Remember that!

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/20 ... ter_fire_with_report.html

There are far too many Canadian Geese around, there is no doubt they need reducing in this area.

Robin.

Geese are loud, shit everywhere, and attack you if you get near.

Can I sign the counter petition supporting Edgewater's effort?

meh

They have built Condos on their habitat -- now they want to kill them.

Join Our Protest - June 18, 2016
PLEASE JOIN US for these beautiful innocent beings as we stand together AGAINST the cruel, despicable and disgraceful actions by Mayor McPartland and Council.
Date: Saturday, June 18, 2016
Time: 1pm ? 3pm
Location: Edgewater Borough Hall, 55 River Road, Edgewater, NJ 07020

www.saveedgewatergeese.com

Edgewater council defends gassing of Canada geese population

BY SVETLANA SHKOLNIKOVA
JUNE 17, 2016

EDGEWATER ? The Mayor and Council continued this week to defend the gassing of Canada geese at Borough Hall, Veterans Field, the Edgewater Marina and two private properties, refusing two offers from animal rights activists to buy out the borough's geese management contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Representatives from the agency and borough officials said the euthanasia program has successfully reduced the geese population in Edgewater in the past three years, cutting down the number of geese that are captured and killed from 91 in 2013 to 17 in 2015, and along with egg addling and other population control practices, helped lessen the amount of droppings and threats to health and safety.

"It's worked and it's working and I recommend we continue the course," said Councilman Michael Henwood.

Edgewater's efforts to curb its geese population date back to 1998, when the town hired a company to release dogs onto Veterans Field to chase the birds away.

The geese eventually learned to recognize the vehicle carrying the dogs so the borough turned to other non-lethal methods: installing cutouts of dogs, hanging up reflective paper to deter geese from landing, building a small fence across the riverfront to stop geese from walking out of the water, spraying grass at Veterans Field with geese repellent, playing audio recordings of birds of prey at the marina and more.

All failed, said the Department of Public Works.

"The good people of Edgewater, back when we started this program, did it for a reason: because they felt that the health and welfare of their children were at risk," said Mayor Michael McPartland. "The good people of Edgewater demanded action? and this is the course of action the council put forth."

More than two dozen animal rights activists, from Edgewater as well as neighboring towns like Cliffside Park, Palisades Park and West New York and municipalities in Sussex and Ocean counties, urged the governing body to reconsider and take up the Animal Protection League of New Jersey's offer to buy out the $5,999 Department of Agriculture contract and assist the town with habitat modification.

Cliffside Park resident Virginia Heagney, who owns businesses on the pier at 115 River Road in Edgewater, said she was also willing to pay the town to cancel the contract.

"I'm ready to cut the check," she said.

Angi Metler, executive director of the state's Animal Protection League, said more than 5,000 animal rights activists from 80 countries have signed paper and online petitions protesting the gassings and are closely watching Edgewater's response.

"If Edgewater continues to treat this issue inhumanely, I can promise you that we will ramp up our efforts and we are not going away until this is resolved," said Metler.

McPartland said he was open to reevaluating the program next year and would be willing to again try habitat modification on Veterans Field once it reopens to the public but noted that while most borough residents he has spoken to are sympathetic to the plight of the geese, "they don't want to see what happened on the ball field happen again and they like the way the marina looks."

Henwood said he received 260 e-mails from animal rights activists in recent weeks and of the six from Edgewater residents, five were in support of the borough's current practices.

Edgewater is one of about 65 municipalities, agencies, airports and other locations throughout the state that participate in the Department of Agriculture's geese management program, according to Aaron Guikema, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services Program in New Jersey.

The state is home to one of the densest Canada geese population in the country, numbering at around 80,000 birds. The Atlantic Flyway Council, a waterfowl hunting management organization, recommends about half that number as a manageable level.

www.saveedgewatergeese.com

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/20 ... se_population_ignite.html

http://www.northjersey.com/community- ... eese-population-1.1617568

www.saveedgewatergeese.com