EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!!
Before I begin, I would like to use the Michigan signatures from this petition to use in a letter directed to the Natural Resources Commission to stop the geese killings and to also have them revisit the Mute Swan slaughter as well. If you do not want to stop the geese killings, please email me ASAP and I will remove you from the list. karenstamper2022@gmail.com
THE DNR ALREADY DECIDE TO KILL GEESE IN 2025. WE WERE NOT GIVEN A SAY:
PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK:
PLEASE POST THIS on social media and ask people to write the NRC Board. Please try and get kids involved. This involves them too! If anyone wants to go, let me know. It would be great to get some people to go and speak during public comments. I was hoping to take off work early and go, but did not realize the meeting is in Marquette, 6 hours from me. PLEASE USE ANY OF THIS INFO IN YOUR LETTERS OR JUST WRITE THAT YOU OPPOSE THE KILLING OF CANADA GEESE AND YOU WANT THE MUTE SWAN KILLING PLAN REVISITED AS WELL. HUMANE OPTIONS EXIST !!!
We need to not only speak up for the geese, but the Mute Swans too. Remember, the DNR claims the NON NATIVE swans are invasive to the NATIVE Canada goose, yet they now claim there are so many geese that they have to be killed. The same geese that are on lakes with the swans. If the swans were so invasive, there shouldn't be so many geese on the lakes to kill. The DNR claims, again, make no sense.
The Natural Resources Commission is meeting this Thursday, October 10,2024, to vote to have all geese removed from Michigan lakes, from here on out, be killed. I am not sure if they will be gassed or taken to a slaughterhouse, since the USDA will be involved in the killings. This means that all the Lake Associations, condo complexes, businesses, golf courses, etc., that have geese removed year after year and relocated, will now have them removed and killed. Please click the links below for meeting times and NRC contact information:
PLEASE WRITE THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE AS WELL. SHE APPOINTS THE DNR OFFICIALS.
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/contact
The Canada Geese, NATIVE and federally protected birds, are in trouble next year. After the DNR allowed some lake associations to roundup and gas geese this year, They have now announced that there will be no more roundups and relocation. Any geese picked up from this time forward will be killed / gassed. The DNR (USDA) will kill geese in 2025.
Gassing geese is a horrible death for any animal, but for geese especially. They can suffer in that chamber for at least 40 to 45 minutes all the while their lungs are being burnt up. Geese are determined to survive and will kick and flop all over trying to get out. I saw on this website , Animal Protection League of NJ After binding their feet with plastic zip-ties, the WS (DNR OR USDA in our area) uses carbon dioxide, their standard gas, to suffocate them.
An especially cruel death, carbon dioxide asphyxiation slowly strangles geese anguishing as they struggle to breathe.
This gassing method is particularly inhumane because geese have the capability to hold their breath for long periods, like when diving for food. So, they suffer longer than most animals exposed to this method of oxygen deprivation.
They suffer, in part, due to citizens being misled. They suffer while several readily-available non- lethal, more effective, and cost-effective methods exist.
As you may know, this past June, the Lake Sherwood Homeowners Association had a little over 100 Canada geese removed from their lake and gassed. Most of the geese were this year’s babies. According to the DNR and the Goosebuster’s websites, only communities that had their beaches closed in 2023 because of Canada Geese would be permitted to have geese removed from their lake. I was able confirm through the Beach Guard website and the Oakland County Health Dept that the reason for Lake Sherwood’s beach closure was an unknown source. It was not determined to be the geese or storm runoff.
https://www.egle.state.mi.us/beach/BeachDetail.aspx?BeachID=1964
The water quality report on the Lake Sherwood website suggests that their algae bloom problem is due to too much fertilizer. https://www.lake-sherwood.org/water-quality Lake Sherwood is also an older community, and I would guess some of their septic fields have not been checked in a while. That probably goes for many of our lakes in Michigan.
I had a post on the Nextdoor Site and was made to take it down because of where I work, and also because their waterfowl board was upset that I said they had no deterrents. Ironically, a few days after the gassing, the Lake Sherwood HOA emailed their residents to inform them the string they had put up that day around the island was to keep the 40 geese off of it. Still most properties do not have anything up to deter the geese.
Jason Colthorp from our local news Channel 4, WDIV, texted me the other day and told me he is doing a story about this. He has interviewed the President of Lake Sherwood and a friend that followed the goose truck with the geese in it to the site where they were gassed to death. I am hoping you will consider writing a quick email to him about your thoughts on HOA’s, lakefront homeowners, etc., deciding what lives and dies on our lakes and gassing the geese. He also confirmed with me that the DNR told him they will be killing any goose they pick up or round up from now on. One reason is the Bird Flu, yet no one at the Lake Sherwood roundup had masks or gloves on while being around the geese or handling them.
jasoncolthorp@gmail.com .
We are trying to get the geese gassing stopped before they start. A few of us are working with In Defense of Animals collecting donations to rent billboards and send out flyers to alert our area about the DNR kill plan. If you would like to donate, that would be great. I also intend to contact the Governor’s Office and one of the local state senators and state representatives to go over humane options. Anyone that would like to attend those meetings or send a letter to them, please let me know. karenstamper2022@gmail.com
According to the Animal Protection League of New Jersey’s website, https://aplnj.org/canada-geese/
there is a product, Flock Free, you use it like a weed killer that you put on your lawn and the geese do not like it. I have spoken to the company and hope to send the info to lake communities and municipalities. They have teams in each state that will come out and spray. They spray weekly first 3 weeks and then once monthly. People can buy the product and do it themselves too. We need to present ways to deter geese that do not involve killing them. https://flockfree.com/
THIS IS FROM ATTORNEY CATHERINE WOLFE...She wants us to use this and keep her name on it so they see who it is from
LAW OFFICE OF
CATHERINE L. WOLFE, PLC
PO Box 25
Honor, Michigan 49640
Phone: 231.325.3377
Email: clwolfelaw@gmail.com
___________________________________________________________
• First and foremost is the fact that in Michigan, wildlife belongs to the people. It does not belong exclusively to hunters. Unfortunately, nobody challenges the DNR's authority to operate only in favor of hunters. The DNR is hunters managing wildlife for hunters.
> The DNR has known for DECADES that "harvesting" animals as they do not only doesn't reduce the populations, it actually, and intentionally inflates them. The DNR specifically provides for "harvesting" species they want for hunters (themselves).
When people manicure their lawns on a lake they create the perfect environment for geese. A non-lethal way of deterring the geese is to just plant shrubs in the lawns. Geese dislike shrubs intensely bc they provide cover for their predators. Plant some shrubs and they won't come on their land.
The DNR should be managing our wildlife in compliance with our state's constitution which it isn't. I Think that should be the first legal argument to be made. There are additional ones but I think it is the most powerful and cuts the DNR down at the root
These are the arguments that should be made in opposition to the Dept. of Natural Resources’ management of fish and wildlife.
MCL 324.40105 Animals as property of state; taking of animals to be regulated.
This part of the Michigan constitution dictates that
“All animals found in this state, whether resident or migratory and whether native or introduced, are the property of the people of the state, and the taking of all animals shall be regulated by the department as provided by law.”
Pursuant to this section, all animals in Michigan belong to the people of Michigan. The Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) manages the animals and is required to do so in accordance with the people’s interest as stated in Michigan laws.
• QUESTIONS THAT WE NEED TO ASK AND HAVE ANSWERED BEFORE THE KILLING STARTS (If anyone has anything to add, please forward to me karenstamper2022@gmail.com):
• Why are lakefront homeowners the only people who get to decide what lives and dies on our lakes?
• Are they going to make lake associations obtain new Resolutions from their municipalities and redo their signed petitions from their residents? Even though the old petition says "maybe killed" on it, most people who signed petitions or approved resolutions in the past, were told the geese would be relocated and not killed.
Are they going to verify the signatures on the petitions to make sure they have the 70% of the signatures needed and verify that the people signing are actually lakefront homeowners on the lake and also verify that, for example, 10 people from one home are not all signing it?
Are they going to make All the lake associations fill out the STANDARD petition on the DNR website and not make their own easily manipulated multiple choice petition as Lake Sherwood in Commerce Twp has done for years? If they are going to have geese killed, then they should have to do the proper leg work to have them killed.
How much are the taxpayers going to pay for this and how much money are the DNR and USDA making to do this?
Are they going to allow lake associations to only remove a certain amount of geese per the lakes acreage? It will be pretty bad if 70 or less geese on a lake of 100+ acres get killed because the lakefront homeowners do not try and deter them in any way.
How do
Goose gassing is a method of killing Canada geese using carbon dioxide gas, which is often used by the United States Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services. Here is some information about goose gassing:
When it happens:
Roundups usually occur during the annual molt, which is from mid-June to July, when geese are growing new feathers and can't fly.
How it happens:
Wildlife agents herd geese into portable pens, separate the adults from their goslings, and then pack them into crates or cages on their trucks. The geese are then killed in small chambers on the back of trucks or at designated locations, like with the Lake Sherwood Geese. They were taken to the DNR location at Gale Rd and Williams Lake Rd in Waterford. An especially cruel death, carbon dioxide asphyxiation slowly strangles geese anguishing as they struggle to breathe. From what I understand, they bind their feet with plastic zip-ties to prevent them from flopping and thrashing around trying to get out. Gassing a goose is a horribly slow death, because geese will try to stay alive for as long as they can. This could last up to 40 to 45 minutes; all the while their lungs are being burnt up. This gassing method is particularly inhumane because geese have the capability to hold their breath for long periods, like when diving for food. So, they suffer longer than most animals exposed to this method of oxygen deprivation.
They suffer, in part, due to misled citizens. They suffer while several readily-available non- lethal, more effective, and cost-effective methods exist (For quick info on some, just see list below)
Alternatives
Some alternatives to goose gassing include:
Plant Shrubs
• Habitat modification
• Goose deterrents
• Restoring native habitat
• Planting taller grasses
• Using Flight Turf, a native seed product that deters geese and ticks
• Discouraging residents from feeding geese
• Creating a "tolerance zone" for geese
• Relocating young geese to areas with migratory geese
Egg addling
A humane way to limit flock growth is to treat eggs with corn oil or remove them from the nest.
• Flock Free lawn spray https://flockfree.com/
• Tow and Collect Machines https://www.towandcollect.com/models/
• Why it happens:
Some say that geese are a danger to aircraft because they can be sucked into jet engines. Most people use the roundups to remove the geese and their poop before the July 4th holiday.
Some believe geese are a health hazard and say kill, some better-versed say otherwise. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and In Defense of Animals state, “Scientific studies do not show that goose droppings pose any special health threats. Obviously, people want to avoid contact with any animal droppings. Ordinary good hygiene, such as washing hands and leaving shoes at the door, are adequate prevention if you accidentally contact animal droppings.”
Like these groups, the CDC says geese droppings pose no special health risks. If you come in contact with a dropping, they recommend you do the same thing you do every time you eat, what we’ve all been taught – what we all know: wash your hands. Gassing geese isn’t prevention. It’s shortsighted and ineffective, a square peg in a round hole that costs the taxpayers the money they’ve worked to earn.
Anyone wanting to help with donations towards billboards, flyers, etc., can do so by clicking on the following link. PLEASE put BILLBOARDS in the notes. We are working with In Defense of Animals on this. We hope to have digital designs for the Canada goose and the Mute Swans on rotation. If you know of a great billboard site, please let me know as well. karenstamper2022@gmail.com
https://helpourwaterfowl.org/donation.html
PLEASE EMAIL THE MICHIGAN NATURAL RESOURCES COMMISSION ASAP. CANADA GEESE LIVES ARE DEPENDING ON YOU, AND LET'S GET THE MUTE SWAN SLAUGHTER REVISITED AS WELL. IT'S TIME FOR THE SLAUGHTERS TO STOP AND ONLY WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
KAREN STAMPER