No More Geese Killings In Ocean County For Now

About a half-dozen animal activists against the killing of Canada geese were at the Ocean County Freeholder's meeting Tuesday afternoon. They were in for a surprise announcement from the Board that the program is currently on hold, at least for the rest of 2012.

The Ocean County Freeholders received word from the United States Department of Agriculture that the County's population of Canada geese has been controlled enough and there is no necessity of any future geese roundup this year.

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Freeholder John Bartlett addressed the crowd who were happy to hear the news. About 10 geese were killed this spring but the bigger impact came from an unknown number of egg addling, or the prevention of eggs from hatching. The Park's Department is currently working to compile actual figures, although at this point they aren't available.

Freeholder Bartlett told the crowd "we still have every intention of taking all of your recommendations into account to find a more humane way of controlling the population. However, the USDA has deemed the method of trapping and gassing the geese as the best way to handle the situation."

Animal activist David Sauder of Goose watch NJ says "we have been to the last four meetings and will continue to urge the Freeholders to send correspondence to the USDA to halt the program for good." Sauder and other activists met privately with the board before the meeting.

At this point, the program is on hold till at least next year.