pbPlease Attend Township Council Meeting, April 23, 7:30pm tobr /
Voice Your Opposition Calls Emails Also Needed/b/p
pPequannock Township, in Morris Country, New Jersey is planning to shoot and kill ducks and geese at 27 acre Pequannock Valley Park, a swimming lake with a beach area that is open to the public, and the adjacent 40 acre Woodland Lake, home to many species of birds, waterfowl and other wildlife./p
pTown officials obtained a DEP Permit that allows the town to shoot and kill Canada geese from April 1, 2013-August 31, 2013, and a permit to kill the ducks is pending approval. /p
pMayor Rich Phelan and Township Manager David Hollberg are blaming a few ducks and geese for elevated coliform bacteria levels in lake water after heavy rainfalls on summer days-they are absurdly insisting that all the ducks and geese be exterminated at the lake. Waterfowl are naturally attracted to lakes, and the landscaping and habitat of the public park area, in addition to the constant presence of food sold and eaten at the swimming area means the birds must be tolerated by park and town officials. Suggestions to change the areas food is eaten at the beach, in addition to educating residents about not feeding waterfowl have been made to officials. /p
pThe town’s attitude of intolerance which views bird species that belong in the landscape turned into a public swimming area-that says even one duck isn’t allowed to exist where people swim- must be challenged and overturned in this town and everywhere. /p
pBacteria levels in water are affected by multiple factors, and the presence of dog excrement on trails surrounding the lake was documented by Friends of Animals last week, after a meeting at the Pequannock Valley Park lake with Township Manager Hollberg. A Pequannock resident confirmed to FoA that throughout the summer, dog owners often fail to clean up droppings at sites directly around the lake-some of which could easily end up in the lake water after a rainfall, thus affecting bacteria levels being blamed on waterfowl, with no scientific proof./p
pIn spite of this obvious factor and others, Pequannock officials are dead-set on shooting the ducks and geese-in spite of FoA explaining that killing ducks and geese merely means more ducks and geese will fill the place of those killed, creating a devastating cycle of killing of two important species important to the ecology and biodiversity of the lake. /p
pFriends of Animals presented town officials with our Canada Goose Habitat Modification Manual which details successful examples of deterring geese from certain areas by making the areas less attractive to them and we continue to speak with town officials to urge the killing be called off, and we will speak at the upcoming Pequannock Township Meeting on April 23rd./p
pbCrucially Important Township Meeting, April 23-Your Presence Is Needed to Save the Ducks Geese/b/p
pResidents of Pequannock and surrounding areas should please attend the Tuesday, April 23rd Township Council Meeting, held at the Pequannock Township Municipal Building. You will have three minutes to speak and address the Mayor and Council and voice your opposition to the killing of the ducks and geese./p
pPequannock Municipal Buildingbr /
530 Newark-Pompton Turnpike, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444-1799 Directions/p
pbCalls Emails Also Needed!/b/p
pPlease email and call The Mayor, Township Manager Council Members and urge them to let geese and ducks live at the lake and cancel the killing plan:/p
p(Copy email block of all 6 officials’ addresses): a href=”mailto:rphelan@peqtwp.org”rphelan@peqtwp.org/a; a href=”mailto:dhollberg@peqtwp.org”dhollberg@peqtwp.org/a; a href=”mailto:mlynch@peqtwp.org”mlynch@peqtwp.org/a; a href=”mailto:dkohle@peqtwp.org”dkohle@peqtwp.org/a; a href=”mailto:JVcouncil@gmail.com”JVcouncil@gmail.com/a; a href=”mailto:Cwinterfield@peqtwp.org”Cwinterfield@peqtwp.org/a/p
pMayor Rich Phelan-Email: a href=”mailto:rphelan@peqtwp.org”rphelan@peqtwp.org/a Phone: 973.809.6318 /p
pDavid Hollberg, Township Manager-Email: a href=”mailto:dhollberg@peqtwp.org”dhollberg@peqtwp.org/a Phone: 973.835.5700 x133/p
pMelissa Florance-Lynch, Deputy Mayor Council Mayor-Email: a href=”mailto:mlynch@peqtwp.org “mlynch@peqtwp.org /aPhone: 973.809.4401./p
pCathy Winterfield, Council Member-Email: a href=”mailto:cwinterfield@peqtwp.org”cwinterfield@peqtwp.org/a Phone: 973.476.7230/p
pJoel D. Vanderhoff, Council Member-Email: a href=”mailto:JVCouncil@gmail.com”JVCouncil@gmail.com/a/p
pDavid Kohle, Council Member-E-mail: a href=”mailto:dkohle@peqtwp.org”dkohle@peqtwp.org/a Phone: 973.934.3111/p