For the past 8 years, Islip School District has been employing the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services to round-up and kill birds by the hundreds at Islip Schools year after year, including 200 on July 1, 2021. Thanks to your actions, this cruel tradition has now come to an end. On Tuesday, LION President John Di Leonardo met with new Islip Superintendent Dennis O'Hara who agreed to place a moratorium on employing the USDA to kill geese on school properties as the district works with LION on a humane, nonlethal management plan moving forward. Yesterday, we met with media from 1010Wins, ABC, Fox, the Islip Bulletin, News12, and Patch, and held a vigil for the geese. We then attended the Islip's Annual Board of Education in the evening and spoke directly to those who voted to round up the geese as well as Islip School Board Member Matthew Clareen, the lone board member who voted against the round-up. At this meeting, Dr. O'Hara committed to a minimum "several year moratorium" on lethal round-ups while working on a humane, nonlethal management plan. This plan is in the early stages, but a poop removal machine has already been ordered by the district and the district is exploring securing a dog (who will live and work with a school groundskeeper as his companion) to haze the geese from areas of the property used most frequently by students. While these actions do nothing for the hundreds of geese who were killed last year and in years past, we are confident that Dr. O'Hara and the Islip Board of Education are committed to teaching students to coexist with wildlife moving forward and we look forward to working with them on this issue and other animal issues in the future. Thank you to everyone who signed and shared our petition, called and e-mailed the district, and attended our vigil and the board of education meeting. You've not only guaranteed the safety of geese at Islip Schools for years to come (including this mother and her baby photographed this weekend), but you've helped us send a warning shot to the USDA and all districts contemplating lethal round-ups that Long Islanders won't tolerate our tax-dollars being wasted on animal cruelty. Please follow Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION) at www.facebook.com/humaneli and www.Instagram.com/humaneli and sign up for our mailing list at www.humanelongisland.org to keep up to date on more opportunities help animals on Long Island and beyond. Thank you for being an advocate for animals. <3