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Protest & Press Conference at North Hempstead Town Hall to
Stop Goose Slaughter in Parks

May 20, 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2pm - 4pm, North Hempstead Town Hall.

When: Thursday, May 23, 2013, 2pm-4pm
Where: In front of North Hempstead Town Hall, 220 Plandome Road, Manhasset, NY 11030
(The Manhasset stop of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) stops one block away from the Town Hall)

Your attendance is crucially needed on Thursday, May 23rd, 2pm-4pm to send a convincing message to North Hempstead, Long Island officials and media slaughtering the town’s Canada geese in area parks in the coming weeks will not be tolerated. We will gather in front of North Hempstead Town Hall Thursday to press officials to officially cancel any goose-killing scheme. We’ll bring posters, but please bring your own if possible. Last Tuesday’s packed North Hampstead Town Council Board Meeting, in which Friends of Animals and dozens of town residents attended and spoke against a plan to gas hundreds of the town’s geese to death in parks, caused a stir—and was covered by Newsday, News 12 TV and other local media.

Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Council Members listed for 90 minutes as passionate speakers voiced outrage over hiring the USDA to roundup and exterminate geese and their newly born goslings in area parks, starting in June by stuffing them into crates and sending them to gas chambers—costing the town nearly $10,000 in tax dollars. Friends of Animals and others have attempted to set up a follow-up meeting with officials, but no response has followed from any officials. Time is running out to save the geese.

Friends of Animals and others offered humane, effective alternatives, such as modifying park habitat and landscapes to deter geese from nesting and gathering in high-use areas of parks, as detailed in FoA’s Canada Goose Habitat Modification Manual, which was distributed to each official at the meeting. We also advised officials to make it a policy to clean up waste matter instead of saying all geese within town limits must die. Posting signs and enforcing no-feeding and littering rules are also sensible steps. Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Council Members need a different mindset, one that evolves beyond ignorance and intolerance. Many North Hempstead residents in attendance spoke about how much they value and cherish visiting parks and observing families of geese living their lives. They were horrified at the thought of a goose extermination scheme.

North Hempstead Parks and Recreation officials complain that goose droppings are a nuisance—yet there is no mention of the town using equipment which quickly and effectively remove goose droppings from grassy areas and parks. How can this be ignored?

The town claims they’ve tried everything to “scare off” the geese, and that nothing worked.” Predictibly, harassing geese from areas won’t work if flat, grassy areas remain unchanged. Geese will move in when others leave, occupying those areas for nesting, especially in the summer.

Habitat and landscape modifications are environmentally sound, long-term ways to deter geese from areas where they are seen as problematic — clearly what’s needed in North Hempstead. Co-existence with geese and other wildlife is required as sensible, suburban living. Are Supervisor Jon Kaimin and Town Council Members prepared to spend the residents’ taxes each year to kill geese instead of implementing the effective strategies Friends of Animals endorses?

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Protest & Press Conference at North Hempstead Town Hall to
Stop Goose Slaughter in Parks

May 20, 2013

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