A LETTER TO THE CITY OF WINNIPEG: My name is Jeff Bromley, and I was born and raised in Winnipeg. I am a home owner. I pay taxes. And I often tell people who dont live here, how great of a city Winnipeg is. However, I sincerely struggle with the notion of whether or not Ill continue to do so, being as how I was absolutely appalled to learn today that a handful of citizens calling themselves the Urban Goose Working Group, have been destroying the eggs of Canadian Geese in the area of Kenaston Boulevard in Winnipeg for the past two spring/summer seasons, possibly even longer. I consider myself to be well versed on local events being that Im a member of the local media, and even I had not heard of this until a local TV station had run a story today (May 22nd) on the topic. It blows my mind that the City of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba, and the Government of Canada, all seem to be on board with the ideology that destroying the eggs of our Canadian Geese is the ultimate, and only solution to this ongoing problem and safety issue inside city limits. I have MANY problems with this destructive campaign. Here are just a few. 1. Has the City of Winnipeg not considered alternate courses of action such as the installation of snow fencing along Route 90/Kenaston? Installing Canada Goose Crossing signs to alert drivers of potential problems? And/or posted reduced speed limits in the troubled areas? Surely we can come up with a better solution to the issue than breeding a culture of destruction in order to rid us of any of our inconveniences. Snow fences along the route would serve a double purpose, keeping drivers safe from Geese in summer, as well as from exceedingly slippery road conditions during the winter. 2. To my understanding, the public was NOT consulted on the matter, and I for one DO NOT consent to the destruction of these eggs. I simply refuse to accept that the mass killing of local wildlife is the only solution to the problem here. 3. Simply destroying the eggs of the Geese has far deeper implications on the habitats of these animals. They literally travel THOUSANDS of miles in cyclical existence to give birth to, feed, and raise their young. It is extremely stressful to the mothers of these eggs, when they return to the nest and find that their babies are missing. It is built into their very instinct to reproduce. Not to mention theyre a part of our Canadian heritage and culture. They deserve our protection and consideration. 4. If Winnipeg wants to be viewed as a forward thinking city, we must act as one. There are places in Europe that have built grass and land bridges over highways allowing the safe passage of wildlife from one side to the other. This has reduced GREATLY the amount of wildlife/vehicle collisions. Its saved lives, and its allowed wildlife to co-exist with humans. Why are we so opposed to thinking outside the box? 5. For ten years, Ive worked on Scurfield Boulevard, which is right smack dab in the center of the area in question. I have yet to witness 500 geese on the road at one time as UGWG spokesperson Jim Leafloor has stated to media via press release. This is nothing short of a bogus claim and a boldface lie. This is NOT a problem of that magnitude. Youd be hard pressed to count 500 Canadian Geese in most fields in the area, let alone on a divided two lane x two lane road. Even less so since the slaughter has been mandated. 6. There are those who complain about the Geese, saying they poop all over the place, that they make excessive noise, and that sometimes when the Geese cross the road it makes them late for work. To those folks I say, instead of looking at things that way, how about thanking our lucky stars, that in a world which continues to spiral into terrifying global ecological turmoil, weve still got Geese that are willing to fly thousands of miles back up to Canada, in order to put up with our pollution, traffic, and humans who make excessive noise and poop all over the place. I can only hope that someone in the ranks of our citys civic officials, has the foresight, sense, and basic human decency to put a stop to this senseless destruction, and push for alternate routes in order to reach our common goals. Im not an expert, and Im not a member of PETA. But encouraging and feeding a culture of killing living creatures in order to achieve our creature comforts, is in neither ours, our childrens, nor the best interests of the sustainable future of our wildlife. After all, The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated. - Mahatma Gandhi Sincerely, Jeff Bromley
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 16:38:41 +0000
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