http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/NEWS01/703100399

100 SIGN PETITION

Residents urge city to eliminate geese

Posted by the Asbury Park Press <http://www.app.com/>  on 03/10/07

BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS <mailto:CAR...@APP.COM>
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

LONG BRANCH - City officials are weighing possible solutions to control the
escalating Canada geese problem here and have not ruled out slaughter as an
option.

Several residents of the city's Elberon section came before the City Council
on Feb. 27 and asked for relief. They indicated that the problem is so
severe there, they often cannot allow their children to play in their own
backyards.

The residents presented petitions signed by 100 people in support of
"culling the herd," which for some is a euphemism for killing them. In the
past, this has been done in Monmouth County by rounding them up and gassing
them.

Mayor Adam Schneider, a member of the Audubon Society, said if it comes down
to that, he won't sleep well after the decision.

Councilman Brian A. Unger said he could not support any decision that didn't
involve the humane treatment of the geese.

City Business Administrator Howard H. Woolley Jr. said the city is currently
soliciting proposals from companies with experience in goose control.
Potential solutions include spraying areas to keep the fowl out or using
border collies to scare them away.

"Those are the two that are most effective," said Woolley, who noted that he
received a complaint from a woman with 85 geese on her lawn.

Woolley said that for the last several years, city Health Department
employees have been "addling" goose eggs, handling them in a way that
prevents the birth of goslings.

Diana Multare, another member of the Audubon Society, asked city officials
to work with the group to find ways to deal with the geese in a humane
manner.

"The use of the term "culling' really disturbs me," she said. "I urge the
City Council before they vote on this to find out what methods of culling
they are talking about."

Rosalind Danziger of Ocean Avenue suggested the geese be killed, cooked and
served to the poor.

"I love animals, I really do, but I love people more," she said.

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