Washington State Parks  hired USDA Wildlife Services to kill the geese at Lake Sammamish State  Park.  In all about 90 geese were herded up and gassed to death.

Below are a couple letters to the editor from followers of this blog, as well as a petition against geese gassing…

The geese are not as harmful as the humans

I was saddened to read a letter in your paper dated July 2, 2013, regarding the removal of Canada geese.

The writer would like you to believe that geese are the problems in our state parks and that eradicating them solves all their problems.

The very fact that these animals have had their habitat removed from them gives the geese very little choice of where to exist.

I have frequented the park on many occasions and it’s the human species that litters with nonbiodegradable items, plastic bags, cans and all kinds of trash.

When are we going to take account for the treatment of our environment and coexist with Mother Nature instead of looking to destroy what is good?

Geese do not saturate the air with loud music, they do not litter, they are family orientated and we should embrace them all.

Martyn                                                                                 Redmond

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Removing geese is a temporary solution

Don’t blame our resident geese. This is a man-made problem. Decades ago, in their infinite wisdom, Fish and Wildlife transplanted young geese to Western Washington. They just stayed and multiplied, without their parents to teach them to migrate.

We created the problem and it is our responsibility to deal with the geese humanely.

The Issaquah Press editorial gleefully stated “good riddance to state park geese” and that the “geese have been relocated.” There was no accompanying article and no facts given.

The real story is that state park authorities hired USDA Wildlife Services to remove the geese, not “relocate” them. Wildlife Services rounds up the geese when the adults start to molt and they cannot fly. They then herd the adults and babies into pens.

If they are still doing what they did in the past when they were killing geese in the Seattle parks, the geese are shoved into gas chambers in the back of the USDA trucks. The gas chambers were not designed specifically for large birds like geese. They are too small for them to stand upright prior to being gassed to death. Multiple geese are stuffed into the chamber at the same time while frantically struggling and trying to escape. Of course, this is all done under a cloak of secrecy, so that people cannot see this cruel crime against nature.

There are many humane alternatives that do work, especially when used in conjunction with each other. Removing the geese only creates a temporary solution, as other geese will move in, which results in an endless cycle of killing.

“Whitewashing” the truth and taking pleasure from the death of highly intelligent sentient beings is just plain wrong. And, Washington State Parks, clean up our parks and stop killing our wildlife!

Diane                                                                                           Issaquah

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Action For Animals created a change.org petition  asking the state to stop killing geese in our state parks.  If you have not  already done so, please, please, please sign the petition and pass the link  along!