OPPOSITION TAKES FLIGHT

Social media target NLR goose hunt

Canada geese relax along the fairway Wednesday at the Burns Park Golf Course as Chad McPeak gets ready to hit a shot while playing a round with his father, Butch McPeak.
Canada geese relax along the fairway Wednesday at the Burns Park Golf Course as Chad McPeak gets ready to hit a shot while playing a round with his father, Butch McPeak.

— A gaggle of Canada geese supporters is flocking to social networks to protest North Little Rock’s controlled kill of up to 135 of the honkers in Burns Park set for later this month.

Those disagreeing with the City Council’s decision Monday night to approve the kill have created a Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park page on Facebook and an online petition, and have even set up the geese with their own Twitter account.

(The Twitter profile photograph is of an egg. “It’s my baby picture,” a post says.)

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Facebook page had 278 “likes” in support of saving the geese. The online petition had collected 251 signatures, including at least one each from France and Australia.

Meanwhile, the city park rangers’ office had received 28 applications by midafternoon Wednesday from people wanting to take part in the kill.

The hunt to reduce the population of 200 resident geese will be from 6:30-9:30 a.m. Dec. 20-22 in closed areas of Burns Park’s 1,500-plus acres. Small, guided groups of hunters will be selected through an application process under way through Monday.

Is there any real hope left for a reprieve for the geese who have taken up residence in North Little Rock’s vast park of golf courses, soccer fields and trails?

“We’re going to make a very strong stand against the killing and will continue to do this until the killing starts,” said Desiree Bender of Conway, a former state director for the Humane Society of the United States. Bender set up the Facebook page to solicit support.

“What I hope is that the City Council rescinds its decision and works with everyone involved to try to come up with a more humane approach, one where we’d all be happy, while also dealing with the issue of the growing geese population,” she continued.

Mayor Patrick Hays, who has stated his support for the geese kill, said Wednesday that there is “always a chance” for a change of heart, but he considered the problem a “health and safety issue” that needs addressing immediately. City officials say people are breaking a city law and contributing to the problem by feeding the pretty waterfowl.

Scott White of North Little Rock, who began the online petition and the “geese’s” Twitter account, said: “The geese have a more lighthearted perspective on this than people.” He found out about the planned geese kill through Facebook, he said, and wanted to get involved in the effort to save the fowl.

“We’d like the city to rescind this and take a breath and consider more humane alternatives,” White said. “The petition, because it’s online, is getting signatures from around the world, but the majority are local and Arkansas signatures.”

Bender said concerns aren’t limited to North Little Rock residents because Burns Park “is used by people throughout the state” who go there for golf, soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, picnics and reunions.

“This is a black mark against the city,” Bender said. “It’s something that needs more thought put into it.”

The Humane Society of the United States, which said it has 61,300 members in Arkansas, also sent a letter to Hays and the City Council to “implement more humane and effective solutions.”

Hays said he hadn’t seen the Humane Society’s letter.

“I certainly respect the opinions of folks and the different thoughts, but at the same time I can say from personal experience that the problem is continuing to increase,” said Hays, a regular biker on the city’s River Trail.

“I think this is just part, the initial part, of blending lethal and nonlethal approaches,” Hays added. “I’m very hopeful this will be a one-time effort to address a very serious problem.”

Problems include gaggles of geese interfering with golfers, cyclists and other park users, geese eating grass seed and damaging soccer fields and golf courses, as well as an abundance of geese feces fouling lakes and even causing youth soccer matches to be moved to less poopy fields, Park Ranger Kate Finefield said. A single goose can produce more than a pound of feces every day, Finefield said.

Bender said, “I came away from that [Monday] meeting that this is mostly about the avid cyclists and that they don’t like washing the goose poop off their bikes. This is no reason to go and kill the geese.”

North Little Rock has tried pyrotechnics and cutouts figures of coyotes to scare the geese, Finefield said, only to have the geese become accustomed to the tactics and return. Maumelle and Fort Smith have also used coyote cutouts.

Other alternatives include addling, which has been used in Bella Vista and Hot Springs Village. The process involves removing a fertilized egg from a nest and coating the egg with corn oil to cut off oxygen from the gosling embryo to kill it. The egg is then placed back in the nest to fool the goose and prevent the laying of more eggs.

“There are so many other alternatives, so many different approaches to addressing the problem,” Bender said.

Little Rock acquired a female border collie, Fern, about 10 years ago to deal with an overpopulation of geese at Rebsamen Golf Course. Little Rock no longer has a geese problem because of Fern, said Bryan Day, Little Rock’s assistant city manager. Day was the city’s parks director when the dog was purchased.

“It’s a behavior thing, a changing of behavior of the geese,” Day said. “We felt that was a more humane approach. Fern was the best investment we ever made. We haven’t had a goose there in years.

“The geese would find somewhere else to go because of the dog,” Day continued. “If I was parks director and we lost Fern and the geese came back, I would do it again in a minute. For us, it was the best fit.”

The written plan for the hunt, or population reduction, was given to city aldermen. It consists of more than three typed pages plus three maps of what park areas would be closed during the hunt. Areas include the front nine of the park’s two golf courses, the soccer complex and the area around Victory Lake and the dog park. Parks employees and police officers are to guard the park’s entrances during the hunt.

“I don’t see a whole lot of difference in the end result as to what we do at the animal shelter,” Hays said, where unclaimed dogs and cats are put to death.

“I didn’t feel like this would be something where there wouldn’t be some difference of opinion, yet for safety and health reasons I felt overall it was part of a comprehensive approach,” he added. “I feel like it will be a successful overall program and that this is just a limited part of that overall program.”

After the hunt, the city will decide what other steps to take, he said.

The Facebook link is: www. facebook.com/pages/Coalition-to-Save-the-Geese-of-Burns-Park/153698431397628.

The Twitter link is: twitter. com/#!/BurnsParkGeese.

The online petition is at: www.change.org/petitions/ mayor-patrick-hays-northlittle-rock-city-council-forbid-killing-of-geese-in-burnspark.

Information about applying for the hunt is available by contacting the city park ranger’s office, a division of the city Parks and Recreation Department, at (501) 812-5962.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/01/2011

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