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QUEENS WEEKLY, JULY 7, 2019
Bayside activist says ‘no’ to geese roundup
Resident calls for action and awarness after USDA Wildlife Services put geese in cages
ASTORIA TIMES ■ BAYSIDE TIMES
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FRESH MEADOWS TIMES
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BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Fort Totten Park is a
beautiful peaceful refuge
for Jennifer Heinsman
as she is roller-skating or
taking a walk down to the
bay in the early morning
hours. However, that bliss
has since changed for
Heinsman after witnessing
the rounding up of geese
stuffed into orange crates
by USDA Wildlife Services
officials on June 24.
A frequent visitor of the
park at least three times a
week, Heinsman said she
will no longer be returning to
Fort Totten.
“It was one of the
most horrific things I
have experienced,” said
Heinsman, who has been
living in the Bayside
community for over 25
years. “I was so livid and
appalled. There were
multiple geese crammed
into the crate and the
geese were petrified
and flailing; they were
severely distressed.”
While skating in the
parking lot at around 6 a.m.
before heading out to the
trail, Heinsman said she
noticed three USDA trucks,
a police truck, another from
the Parks Department and
kayakers in the water.
When Heinsman
approached one of the six
men, she was told that the
geese were being taken to
the processing center to be
fed to the homeless.
“I said, ‘Who’s doing
this?’ and he told me,
‘This is JFK Airport.’
In my mind I’m thinking,
they’re rounding up the
geese for slaughter,” said
Heinsman, a licensed
veterinarian for 22 years
who has seen abuse
and neglect of animals,
describing the crating and
transporting of the geese
cruel and inhumane.
The continuous removal
of geese throughout city
parks and areas around the
local airports began as an
effort to prevent accidents
such as the 2009 “Miracle
on the Hudson,” in which
U.S. Airways Flight 1549
out of LaGuardia struck
Canadian geese during
takeoff, blowing out the
plane’s engines.
The pilot, Captain
Chesley Sullenberger,
was forced to make an
emergency landing on
the Hudson River; no one
was killed.
The geese were DNA
tested by the Smithsonian
Institute and determined
to be migratory birds from
northern Canada, flying
at 3,000 feet altitude when
the infamous incident
occurred. Nevertheless,
thousands of local geese
which never migrate or
fly high have been killed
in New York City every
summer by USDA Wildlife
Services, according to
David Karopkin, founder
and former director of
GooseWatch NYC, a group
formed in 2011 following
the removal of geese at
Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
Canadian geese
have also been removed
from the Jamaica Bay
Wildlife Refuge, a swamp
marshland off the coast
of Queens, according to
Karopkin, who says the
USDA has a contract with
the Port Authority of NY/
NJ to access city parks and
remove the geese.
The geese are then taken
to a facility slaughterhouse
located in upstate New
York, said Karopkin.
The FAA Wildlife
Strike Database reported
its largest margin (25
percent) between 2008
(7,602) and 2009 (9,474) and
has continued increasing
to date.
On average, 39 strikes
are reported daily — 97
percent are birds, 2 percent
are terrestrial mammals
and 1 percent are bats
and reptiles. The online
database contains over
209,000 strike reports
between Jan. 1, 1990 and
Nov. 30, 2018.
The Port Authority
works diligently to
develop mitigation plans
to manage risk and
minimize the possibility
of potentially devastating
bird strikes, according to
the department.
In an email to QNS,
the Port Authority said
the agency is not just
focused on the safety of the
traveling public, but also
the safety of communities
that surround its facilities,
specifically the airports
where planes soar above
densely populated areas.
The agency’s Airport
Wildlife Hazard
Management Plan is in
compliance with the Federal
Aviation Administration’s
requirements and
recommendations for
managing wildlife on and
off-airport.
“To increase safety of
the approach and departure
airspace, the Port Authority
also coordinates with
the USDA and the city to
mitigate wildlife hazards
within a five-mile radius
of the airport,” the Port
Authority said.
Following the plane
crash in the Hudson
River, the National
Transportation of Aviation
Safety Board issued a
comprehensive 200-page
report with 33 specific
recommendations to the
FAA to prevent bird strikes
and to enable pilots and other
aviation officials to be able
to respond to bird strikes,
said Karopkin.
Instead of removing
and slaughtering the geese,
Karopkin said there are
other alternatives such as
adopting radar technology
at airports to monitor
migrating birds in the area.
Upon hearing the news of
the geese roundup at Fort
Totten Park by Heinsman,
Karopkin became upset,
he said.
“I would hope to live
in a city that can coexist
with all of the wildlife that
we’re so fortunate to share
space with,” said Karopkin.
“We have 8 million New
Yorkers with an extremely
dense environment. We’re
talking about a small
number of animals and
it’s tragic that our elected
officials and government
have determined the
need to be reduced and
exterminated.”
Heinsman suggested
relocating the geese
elsewhere and has
made phone calls to
various animal rights
organizations about
the incident.
Courtesy of Jennifer Heinsman
/www.TimesLedger.com
/www.TimesLedger.com
