Depends on how one defines humane. U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines allow for all manner of management techniques, up to and including what they refer to as "euthanasia."
Advocates for the Laurel Acres geese say this could include having the birds professionally rounded up, put in a chamber on a truck, and gassed. They've lobbied against lethal techniques for weeks, and planned to attend a township council session scheduled for last night.
"It's not like we're saying don't do anything. We're saying, use humane methods," says Mount Laurel resident Tina Wilson. "When they gas them, it's not like euthanizing a pet. You can hear their wings flapping as they suffocate. It's horrible."
Wilson and others suggest egg-addling (essentially scrambling the egg in its shell), strategic landscaping (geese like a water view), and deploying Border Collies (the birds don't find them nearly as adorable as we do).
"There's no need to kill the geese. There's a better way and it's been proven," says Sharon Pawlak of Marlton, national coordinator of the Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese. The nonprofit group maintains the website www.canadageesenewjersey.com.
"Look, no one wants to step in the droppings," says Pawlak, who admires the Canada goose for its intelligence and family values. As for public concern that the birds could carry diseases that endanger humans, she adds, "You're more likely to get sick from a dog or a cat."
Wilson and Pawlak say the township rarely enforces its no-feeding regulations at Laurel Acres. They also insist it has only sporadically tried to control the geese population through nonlethal means.
