I’m quite sure that, like me, instead of saying “poop” when you’re frustrated or annoyed another much more colorful example of spoken expletive comes out of your mouth. It will vary, of course, depending upon how annoyed you actually are and who’s around to hear you. Maybe that’s just me. It seemed like a fitting title for this blog as I did become exasperated in reading an article in my local newspaper the other day.
I LOVE reading the newspaper in the morning with my tea in hand. It’s definitely old school and I like it in the same way that I like turning the pages of a good book. The article in question was about Canada geese and their poop. And it’s Canada not Canadian, at least according to a bit of research I did. I’m resting on a quote by John James Audubon – one in the same who had an all-inclusive avian society named after him – in which he refers to the water fowl as Canada goose/geese. That’s good enough for me and hopefully you, too.
The local issue with these Canada geese is that human perception says there are apparently too many of them for local park-goers as their poop (geese, not human) can be a blight on their daily walks with Fido and in general. It’s not only, the article quotes several humans as saying, that it’s unsightly and all over the place it’s also that Fido and/or Fluffy will sometimes snarf down the poop as a delicacy known apparently only to canines. Let’s hope so, anyway!
Naturally, there is a history of this beautiful animal running afoul (my apologies) through no fault of their own due to humans’ misguided intentions. Initially, they were hunted almost to extinction and then laws were passed to bring their numbers back. Part of the current issue is that balance within Nature wasn’t considered and the geese were introduced to land that they hadn’t previously inhabited resulting in the disturbance of migratory patterns. The species is now protected by the federal government yet as the article revealed what sounds good with humans is sometimes not the case with their actions. Again, keep in mind that the geese, if left to their own wisdom would become either “resident” geese and stick to a certain geographical area or they would be migratory and spend different seasons in different climates. Problem solved. They DO know what they’re about as do all other Animal species – we’re the ones in the dark most of the time where they’re concerned.
Currently, nests are being disturbed and eggs coated with corn oil in order to prevent them from hatching, an animal version of forced sterilization, to “control their numbers”. All because (according to my research of governmental sites) the geese are a nuisance to humans and of course, because we don’t like their poop to get on our shoes or in Fido’s stomach. This is the point where other expletives come to mind as humans seem incapable of understanding and/or learning that “control of wildlife” is a euphemism along the same lines as “man was given dominion over the animals.” We’ll just continue to muck it up between our species and all others until the poop is piled so high there’s no way out, under, over or around it. I don’t know about you but I’m sticking with the geese – they’re wayyyy smarter.