OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian and U.S.
wildlife officials are banding together this
spring to mastermind the slaughter of
millions of snow geese, outraging
environmentalists who say the plan is
barbaric.
Millions of the large white or blue geese,
which have dramatic black wingtips,
migrate from as far south as Texas to the
tundra south of Canada's Hudson Bay
each spring, eating a swath through the
grain farms on their flight path.
Once in the Arctic, biologists say, the
geese are laying waste to the meager
vegetation, damaging the fragile Arctic
tundra that sustains hundreds of other
species.
This year, the gloves are off in the battle
to cull the populous birds.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Thursday gave hunters the go-ahead to
kill as many snow geese as they can
this spring, long past the end of hunting
season, in an effort to cut the population
of the migratory birds in half.
Hunters, who can normally kill only 20
geese a day using ''blocked'' shotguns
and manual bird-calling devices, are now
free to use unblocked shotguns -- which
can hold much more ammunition -- and
electronic calling systems to lure as
many birds as they can carry home to
their freezers.
Canada, which is expected to match the
U.S. program in time for the geese's
arrival in the country, is also proposing
the use of bait on the ground to give
hunters an extra edge to lure the cagey
birds within the range of their shotguns.
``These new rules are our best hope for
saving these snow geese from
themselves,'' said Dr. Bruce Batt, chief
biologist for Memphis-based Ducks
Unlimited, a hunters' group devoted to
conserving wetlands across North
America.
``Humans caused the problem by altering
the birds' habitat, and now it is up to
humans to fix the problem. Increased
hunting is the most efficient, most
humane way to do that.''
But the prospect of a mass slaughter of
nearly six million geese in the next three
years has horrified environmentalists.
``(The snow geese) have lived up there for
many thousands of years quite
successfully,'' Animal Alliance of Canada
Director Liz White told Reuters. ``The
fact that we take a look at the 30-year
picture just doesn't make any biological
sense whatsoever.''
She said the geese are only beginning to
reach the population levels of the last
century, after being nearly decimated in
the past 30 years by the loss of their
habitat.
White said biological indicators show
that geese are starting to cut their own
population -- with a falling survival rate of
goslings.
The idea of a spring hunt infuriates her.
``With every ethical hunter that I've talked
to, spring is not on for hunting, because
it is a time that they are trying to build
nests, or have dependent young,'' White
said.
The Animal Alliance, together with the
U.S. Human Society, Animal Protection
Institute, and the Canadian
Environmental Defense Fund have
banded together to stop the cull.
Their case against the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service is scheduled to be heard
in Washington Friday. It calls for an
immediate injunction to stop the kill.
Complicating the debate is the difficulty
in knowing exactly how many snow
geese exist. The largest population
migrates mid-continent -- from Texas to
Canada's province of Manitoba. Another
population migrates up the East Coast
over the St. Lawrence Valley and through
Quebec.
``These are wild animals, we'll never
know exactly how many there are at any
given time of the year,'' said Steve
Wendt, chief of migratory bird
conservation at the Canadian Wildlife
Service, which is directing the Canadian
cull program.
Depending on when the birds are counted
-- their population surges after spring
hatchings -- the entire population is
estimated at between five million and 10
million.
Under the program, 1.25 million geese
will be killed this year, 1.9 million in 2000
and 2.6 million in 2001.
The sight of a migrating flock of 4,000 or
5,000 snow geese is spectacular, said
Barry Kent MacKay, international
program director of the U.S. Animal
Protection Institute.
``The flocks themselves are pure geese --
the impression is just a huge volume of
snowflakes come to life,'' MacKay said.
While government biologists said the
spring killing is a hunt, not a cull,
everyone admits the bird is difficult to
market to hunters as an alternative to,
say, turkey, simply because it is not very
tasty.
But Ducks Unlimited's Keszler
downplayed the bad taste of the bird.
``They kind of have that reputation but
they can actually be quite good, if they're
prepared correctly,'' he said.