Port Authority Kills 20,000 Animals/DEC To Revise Mute Swan Management Plan

In 2012-2013 the Port Authority killed (from left to right) 19 red-tailed hawks, 4 red foxes and 5,729 laughing gulls.   (Photos: Corbis, AP, Getty Images)

The Port Authority killed 20,000 animals around area airports according to 2012-13 data obtained through a Freedom of Information request.  

The most targeted animal was the laughing gull, with 5,729 killed at JFK Airport, whose nearby marshes are New York’s only breeding colonies for the birds. Hunters at JFK Airport also killed 11 ospreys, which are labeled as at-risk in New York and killed 44 black-tailed jack rabbits.   JFK is surrounded by the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. 

On Friday the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a statement saying they were revising their Mute Swan Management plan without giving specifics. They are considering changes to the draft plan and are creating an additional opportunity for public comment.

“The revised plan will seek to balance the conflicting views about management of mute swans in New York,"  DEC Commissioner Joe Martens announced. 

The move comes after the agency received close to 50,000 comments on the plan including form letters and signatures on various petitions in five weeks.  

Advocates credited the quick and strong response of state legislators, animal advocacy organizations, and many others came together at an early and forced the DEC to revisit their plans.

The change is giving animal rights advocates hope.  

"This victory could not have been achieved without our collective efforts," David Karopkin, founder of GooseWatch NYC, an urban-wildlife advocacy group state in a statement.

"However, our work is far from finished - the plan to destroy NY's swans has been set in motion, hundreds have already been killed, and the DEC must be deterred from pursuing all-out extermination. We will strongly oppose any revision that seeks to expand the killing of these innocent animals.

DEC's "swan plan" is part of a much larger war on wildlife, and animals are losing. Since the killing of NYC's Canada geese began we have seen many other species targeted by USDA Wildlife Services, such as turkeys in Staten Island, deer on Long Island and in Westchester, this morning the NY Post reported that the Port Authority has killed more than 20,000 animals at NYC airports in the past two years ... the list is very long. Taxpayers are funding the needless slaughter of millions of animals, we must keep the pressure on to change these policies."

On Thursday, March 6th, 2014 at 1pm,  David Karopin will be giving a presentation at Brooklyn Law School about urban wildlife law & policy and the work GooseWatch NYC has done.  Aviation expert Ken Paskar will be on hand to answer questions relating to air safety.   RSVP Required.

NY State Senate and State Assembly bills  recently introduced bills which would establish a moratorium on the DEC's plan to declare mute swans a "prohibited invasive species" and to eliminate all of the 2,200 mute swans in the state by 2025.

- Geoffrey Croft

NY/NJ

The Port Authority killed 20,000 animals over the past two years — including three bird species deemed endangered or threatened, The Post has learned.

The agency shotgunned a northern harrier at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport — even though the hawk is endangered in the state, according to 2012-13 data obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Teterboro’s shooters also zapped an American kestrel, a small falcon listed as threatened in New Jersey. And hunters at JFK Airport offed 11 ospreys, which are labeled as at-risk in New York.

Animal conservation groups were outraged.

“We find it upsetting they discontinued [nonlethal controls] . . . and decided it was more cost-effective to just shoot them,” said Glenn Phillips of New York City Audubon Society.

The most targeted animal was the laughing gull, with 5,729 killed at JFK Airport, whose nearby marshes are New York’s only breeding colonies for the birds.

PA contractors also killed 3,203 European starlings, 2,445 herring gulls and 1,908 mourning doves.

Even a tiny monk parakeet was not spared the fusillade, which is meant to keep runways clear of engine-jamming critters.

“A parakeet?” fumed Priscilla Feral, president of Darien, Conn.-based Friends of Animals, which sued the USDA last year over the PA’s killing of snowy owls.

“The idea that parakeets would bring down an aircraft is ridiculous,” she said. “This gives you an idea of how trigger-happy they [the PA] are.”

But birds weren’t the only animals in the cross hairs: Tarmac hunters also killed four red foxes, 11 coyotes, 44 muskrats, 62 woodchucks and 11 white-tailed deer. Eighty-two eastern cottontail rabbits were killed at Newark and JFK airports, along with 44 black-tailed jack rabbits at JFK.

“They take a kill-first approach,” said David Karopkin, founder of GooseWatch NYC, an urban-wildlife advocacy group.

“There’s no incentive to take a long-term look at this issue. Killing is a way for them to pat themselves on the shoulder and say they’re protecting people.”

The PA’s extermination of animals began in the early 1990s but gained attention in 2009 when Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger crash-landed a US Airways flight on the Hudson River after Canada geese stalled the Airbus A320’s twin engines.

New York state wildlife-management permits say hunters may not harm endangered and threatened species or animals of special concern.

In New Jersey, specialists may use only “nonlethal scare devices” on endangered and threatened species, state permits say.

PA spokesman Ron Marsico said the agency has a permit to shoot the osprey because they “posed immediate threats to aviation safety and did not respond to nonlethal harassment.”

He also explained that the harrier and kestrel were killed because “nonlethal control efforts were not effective” and that state and federal authorities were notified.

Nearly 95 percent of the PA’s wildlife-control measures were nonlethal, the agency claims.

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Animals killed by the Port Authority in 2012-2013 at area airports:

Laughing gull: 5,729
European starling: 3,203
Herring gull: 2,445
Mourning dove: 1,908
Brown-headed cowbird: 1,070
Canada goose: 997
Atlantic brant: 912
Ring-billed gull: 798
Rock pigeon: 723
Double-crested cormorant: 436
Great black-backed gull: 414
Red-winged blackbird: 335
Mallard: 331
Barn swallow: 234
House sparrow: 141
Killdeer: 125
Eastern cottontail rabbit: 82
Fish crow: 69
Woodchuck: 62
Snow bunting: 58
Mute swan: 51
Great egret: 46
Black-tailed jackrabbit: 44
Muskrat: 44
American black duck: 42
Great blue heron: 24
Least sandpiper: 22
Raccoon: 21
Red-tailed hawk: 19
Virginia opossum: 18
American crow: 16
Boat-tailed grackle: 12
Norway rat: 12
American oystercatcher: 11
Coyote: 11
Osprey: 11*
Striped skunk: 11
White-tailed deer: 11
Common grackle: 9
Ring-necked pheasant: 9
American robin: 5
American woodcock: 5
Snowy owl: 5
Northern mockingbird: 4
Red fox: 4
American kestrel: 3**
Snow goose: 3
Common raven: 2
Wild turkey: 2
American wigeon: 1
Black-crowned night heron: 1
Lesser yellowlegs: 1
Monk parakeet: 1
Northern harrier: 1***
Red-throated loon: 1
Semipalmated sandpiper: 1
Song sparrow: 1
Turkey vulture: 1
Unknown rodent: 1
Wood duck: 1
* Of special concern
** Threatened
*** Endangered

Read More:

Port Authority killed 20,000 animals

NY Post - March 2, 2014 - By Kate Briquelet

http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/NYSDEC/bulletins/a83594#.UxDeoEDk-8U.facebook

Canada Geese Roundup And Slaughter Heads To Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge closed?   This morning during the annual round up of resident geese that don't fly into planes a USDA employee was heard twice telling David Karopkin of GooseWatch NYC   - who was shooting video and photos (above) of USDA personel loading captured geese and goslings into the back of a pick-up truck - that the park is closed. Another USDA employee tells him that the area is closed.   According to a press release sent out today by GooseWatch NYC, Mr. Karopkin was threatened with arrest "more than once." 


Brooklyn 

The annual roundup and slaughter of the region’s Canada geese in the name of human air safety is under way, according to the New York Times.

In the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and the surrounding area Tuesday morning, agents from the federal Department of Agriculture captured geese and loaded them onto trucks, the National Park Service said. (This time of year, geese are molting and cannot fly.)

No numbers were available, but based on a census conducted recently by the Agriculture Department, the target was 500 geese, said Daphne Yun, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service.

Video taken near the West Pond trail area in the wildlife refuge by David Karopkin of GooseWatch NYC and released by Friends of Animals shows workers carrying heavy-looking crates loaded with birds and putting them in the back of a pickup truck.

Hundreds of geese have been removed each summer from parks within a few miles of the area’s major airports and slaughtered — much to the dismay of animal-rights advocates — since 2009, after a US Airways jet was brought down in the Hudson River by a bird strike. The government is trying to nearly halve the Canada goose population in 17 Atlantic states, to 650,000 from 1.1 million.

“The adult geese and babies were squawking loudly in distress” as they were stuffed into the crates, Edita Birnkrant, New York director of Friends of Animals, wrote in an e-mail. “That this is happening in NYC’s only wildlife refuge is stunning.”

In addition to the roundup at Jamaica Bar, which is controlled by the National Park Service, there have been 322 geese captured at city parks so far this year, city environmental officials said.

The number of geese rounded up has been declining, an indicator, officials said, that the population control plan, which also includes tactics to discourage geese from breeding, is a success.

Read More:

Annual Goose Roundup Under Way in Jamaica Bay

New York Times -  July 2, 2013 - By Andy Newman

USDA Wildlife Services Killing Round-Up By GOOSE WATCH NYC

Animals Killed by Wildlife Services in 2008
Starlings: Animal feed eaters, and can pass disease to livestock.
Blackbirds: Crop eaters.
Squirrels: Can attack airports, golf courses, dams, homes, pets, boats, beehives, fruit and nut trees.
River Otters: Eat fish fishermen want to fish.
Golden Eagle: Unintentionally.  

(Photo: Johnny Johnson/Getty Images (geese); Newscom (starling); Getty Images (hawk, squirrel, fox); Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images (badger, blackbird); Mark Conlin/Alamy (black bear); Peter Arnold Inc./Alamy (bobcat); Chris Lloyd/Alamy (golden eagle); Alamy (otter, wolf))

Since we got involved in our advocacy for geese in New York City, we've learned a lot about USDA Wildlife Services, the federal agency that is physically killing the geese. Back in 2010 Carol Vinzant wrote in New York Magazine about the sheer numbers of animals killed each year in the U.S. by Wildlife Services, in 2011 Mary Lou Simms revealed the incredible amount of money that was being spent by taxpayers to fund Wildlife Services, and in 2012 Tom Knudson at the Sacramento Bee documented the brutally inhumane methods of killing wildlife, and companion animals in the process. Federal legislators from California, Oregon, and elsewhere are calling for reforms and de-funding of Wildlife Services because of their cruelty, and the lack of legitimate and unbiased scientific basis for their activities. Learn more about USDA Wildlife Services on our website.  "This agency has become an outlet for people to abuse animals for no particular reason," Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif. Roundup of Canada Geese from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge - July 9, 2012 (Photos: Gateway National Recreation Area There's no question the USDA has suspect motives - it's a direct conflict of interest for the agency to justify its own needless killing of urban wildlife, which they directly profit from. Last summer an OpEd by Mary Lou Simms indicated in greater detail the extent to which profit, and not safety, motivates USDA WIldlife Services: Geese round-ups more about profit than poop (Fairhope Courier op-ed), VIEWPOINTS: Geese roundups around airports are for profit, not safety. On November 18, 2012 Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee documented how Federal Wildlife Services makes a killing in animal-control business. Organizations across the country are fighting back against Wildlife Services, and the issue is finally beginning to receive mainstream attention.  “Wildlife Services -- is the USDA's dirty little secret.” Mary Lou Simms  Yet New York City leads the way when it comes to contracting with these glorified for-profit governmental exterminators. In the four summers the USDA has been killing geese in NYC parks, taxpayers have shelled out $166,866 to date to kill 3,776 geese, which equals $44 for each goose killed. The cost allotted to killing geese in NYC parks this and next summer is $141,716. The contract between the City and USDA Wildlife Services is not currently set to expire until June 30, 2014.  Join GooseWatch NYC The first goal of GooseWatch NYC was to bear witness to and document the roundups that were taking place in our own parks using our taxpayer dollars, since the USDA was claiming the roundups were humane but refused to provide transparency to their actions. Last summer we got a hold of almost 300 photos of the roundup of 750 geese from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, the first time photos like this have been made available to the public. Wildlife Services will be back in New York City soon. We're formulating our plans now for the upcoming season - our goal is to end the needless and inhumane killing of geese in NYC and you're invited to join our team of GooseWatchers - we're looking for ideas about how we can push back against and end this needless slaughter. Stay tuned for details about our next meeting. You can alsotake action now by signing and sharing our petition. Read more about USDA Wildlife Services on our website. Help us end what has become the Annual New York City Goose Slaughter.

Roundup of Canada Geese from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge - July 9, 2012 (Photos: Gateway National Recreation Area

GooseWatch NYC Will be Watching/Documenting USDA Agents Removing Geese In City Parks

Robert Guadagna took this photo of USDA agents rounding up geese on Randall's Island on June 17, 2009.

City-Wide

Federal agents, if you come back to city parks to kill more geese, they will be ready.

Armed with digital cameras and cell phones, more than 500 New Yorkers are members of GooseWatch NYC, at the ready to photograph if and when the city’s geese will be culled this summer, according to Metro NY.

GooseWatch NYC was started last year by Brooklynite David Karopkin. Karopkin, 27, said he started the group after nearly 400 Prospect Park geese were killed in 2009. Agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture started killing geese in city parks that year, after two geese brought down Flight 1549, the “Miracle on the Hudson” landing in January 2009.

“I made a decision I wasn’t going to be in my bed when the USDA came back to Prospect Park,” said Karopkin.

Karopkin sends his members a text message, voicemail and e-mail letting them know where the agents are when they are spotted. He instructs members of GooseWatch not to interfere with the roundup.

“The only thing we would like to do is capture footage,” he said. “So when the USDA claims what they are doing is humane, we can show what they’re doing.”

USDA agents removed geese from at least 13 city parks last year, ranging from Flushing Meadows Park in Queens to Inwood Hill Park at the tip of Manhattan.

June and July are the prime months for when the geese can be corralled.

“They come in June and July because that’s when the geese are molting,” said Karopkin. “They have goslings, they are vulnerable."

The geese can’t fly away during their molting season, so they are basically grounded.

“It’s when their new flight feathers are coming in and they can’t fly,” said Edita Birnkrant, director of Friends of Animals. “Both baby geese and adults are stuffed into crates, transported long distances in high heat and slaughtered.”

In the past two years, the geese were gassed to death. But last year, after complaints, the geese were butchered and pounds of meat were given to food banks in Pennsylvania.

But Karopkin said there has to be a better way to keep planes safe, and birds alive.

“Unless the plan is literally to kill every single birds you’re never going to reduce the air strikes to zero,” he said. “We’re just killing birds and crossing our fingers.”

Robert Guadagna took this close-up shot of geese in crates after the USDA agents who rounded them up at Randall's Island took an hour-long breakfast, according Karopkin.

A history of geese killing

For the past three summers, the USDA has been killing geese within a seven-mile radius of the city’s three airports, JFK , LaGuardia and Newark.

2009: 1,235 geese were killed, 368 alone from Prospect Park.

2010: USDA agents killed 1,509 Canada geese in parks throughout the city and 167 more in Long Island.

2011: 575 Canada geese removed and killed from New York City

2012: The USDA did not answer when Metro asked if officials are coming back this summer. “Dates and locations for removal of resident Canada geese have not been developed, are dependent on numerous variables, and would not be shared in advance,” USDA spokesman Lee Humberg wrote in an email exchange with Karopkin, posted on his website.

Read More:

New Yorkers ready to witness and document geese killing

Metro NY - May 29, 2012 - Carly Baldwin

Goose Watch Established in Prospect Park 24/7

A Walk In The Park - May 20, 2011

Prospect Park Goose Reduction Plan Unveiled

A Walk In The Park - November 19, 2010

Geese Kill Zones Expanded In NYC

A Walk In The Park - October 5, 2010

A "Sound" Canadian Goose Management Plan Coming Soon To Prospect Park?

A Walk In The Park - September 23, 2010

Geese Protesters Flock To Bloomberg Residence

A Walk In The Park - August 10, 2010 - By Geoffrey Croft

Additional Geese Massacres Coming

A Walk In The Park - July 23, 2010

Hundreds Of Geese Killed In Prospect Park

A Walk In The Park - July 13, 2010