Bird Nuisance Nonsense

I do not understand how killing thousands of wild Canada geese is going to serve human beings in the long run. To me, a mass killing of any wild animal is like a mass killing of trees or human beings. It's upsetting. Obviously, it upsets the balance of nature. Nature is all about give and take and change and balance. As human beings overtake the planet with growing populations and consumption of resources, I don’t see how we can think we are helping matters by killing off large numbers of birds because we feel their populations needs to be trimmed down to a particular number. I am against stripping the rainforest as much as I am against trying to lower populations of wild animals because they are getting in our way. How have such practices served us in the past? Has the US Dept of Agriculture managed the population of any wild animal that it can claim was successful? Can they show us exactly how the goose ‘management’ is working and how it benefits anybody? What’s to keep them from coming back?

The main justification for the killing is that they are posing a threat to air safety. Do I want to fly safely? Of course I do, but I don’t expect the government to eradicate birds for my safety any more than I expect them to clear out deer because I might run into one on the road. How have we impacted the safety of the animals we are meant to share our precious resources with? Severely. So how do we justify calling the geese dangerous to us? We are much more dangerous to them. I guess many people feel that being at the top of the food chain entitles us, but I disagree. Like all animals we will fight for our own survival, and to me it seems obvious that our survival depends on learning how to share and cohabitate. One against one I would certainly kill an animal for food or self defense . But only if I had to. Why should I kill if I thought there was a mutually fair path we could take together and support each other’s survival?

Another issue is that people complain that the birds are messy. Really? Really? How does any human being have the gall to call a wild animal messy? We would do well to emulate their lifestyle. Wild animals live within their means or die. Birds build nests out of found materials. Many species are adapting to the destruction of their natural environment, and many are not. When human beings are willing to make houses out of all the garbage we make on a daily basis, or to live completely on scavenged meals, then maybe we can earn the right to criticize other animals. But until then, it is ludicrous for us to blame wild animals who happen to be thriving in our midst for threatening our safety, or the cleanliness of our environment.