My favorite part of this eloquently written editorial (opinion) piece, is when the Bartman basically declares, You are not a REAL animal lover if you dont stand aside and allow for the destruction of these eggs by a group of townsfolk with no real training, or clue, as to what theyre doing sans reading directions on how to dispose of nuisance eggs from a Government website. Cute....and oh so rational. As completely biased as Barts opinion is, it is not scientific. He conveniently chose to include only what was convenient to his argument. What the author fails to mention is that the City of Winnipeg BUILT those retention ponds in order to attract Geese in the FIRST place because they thought it would be cute to live amongst the wildlife. 30 years ago, we didnt have this problem on Kenaston. This is a MAN MADE problem made worse by our MAN MADE ponds. There exists such a thing as natural selection. Many Geese that fly south dont make it back to Winnipeg (due to hunting, weather, fatigue/old age etc, their populations would control themselves if we allowed for it by NOT building simulated natural habitats in unnatural areas, because AGAIN, 30 years ago we didnt have this problem) but they try, because Geese mate for life and return to where they last successfully pro created. By simply smashing the eggs, instead of trying to relocate them, or finding a way to allow for safe access across roadways, we are only catering to our caveman tendencies. This editorial/opinion based piece in the Freep became even more ridiculous to me, the very moment the act of attempting to protect our national bird was compared to that of eradicating bedbugs. Ridiculous. He also spends a fair portion of his argument complaining that theyre a nuisance, that they poop too much, that theyre a threat on our roads (truthfully, theyre really only a threat on Kenaston, around where the City built the ponds) but I digress. PLUS, there were only 30 accidents last year in a city of 700,000+ (FAR less than those accident types which involved potholes, distracted drivers, drunk drivers, and just terrible drivers in general (the REAL issues here), INCLUDING minor paint chips and fender benders) in an area that would see far less collisions if we were to simply adhere to some of the suggestions for posted speed reductions/snow fences. I shudder to think of how many opponents to the petition may feel validated by Kives arguments. But hold steady folks. Theyll come around eventually. Also, please feel free to cut and paste this argument under any place you may see someone posting this article saying See? I told you tree huggin PETA worshipers that those damn birds are a nuisance!!! Cheers, BROMS
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 13:23:21 +0000