The Wild Geese of Scotia
Scotia is a small town, so small that if you blink when you pass through it … it’s gone. There might be all of a couple thousand people in the vicinity, but it’s mostly made up of a few houses tucked together in the village, surrounded on all sides by the majesty of rural countryside called “upstate New York.”
Well, I say that Scotia is small, but I guess it depends on who (or what) is judging it. A gaggle of over 150 geese didn’t think it was too small to call “home” every season for over a decade on their way from Canada to points south. But, little did they know that their temporary residence would irk the governing body of the town so badly that their very lives would be put in danger.
It was coming to that time of the year again in Scotia when the flying Canadian tourists would descend upon the town and spend a few weeks waddling around Collins Lake at the edge of the village. It was a lovely vacation spot with nesting nooks all around the small lake and lots of food from the townsfolk who enjoyed the presence of the water-wading quackers. What a place … what a fowl paradise!
While sweetheart geese cuddled together in the brush stealing romantic rondezvous away from the gaggling group for a moment here and there, tensions ran high in city hall. The mayor, a stocky well-rounded sort, stomped up and down the floors wearing the tiles thin with worry about what to do with these feathered pests. For ten years, the governing body tried to rid the town of their presence. They tried this and they tried that to move the gaggle on… to no avail. Now, what could he do? He HAD to kill them.
Now he knew what he must do and all that was left was to create the plan. It had to be a clean kill with no trace of abuse. Afterall, the townfolk loved their geese and if he made a wrong move, his next election would be lost. They’d wait ’til the time was right and then … zip … those ghastly geese would be gone for good!
Over the next few days, the mayor masterminded the plan. He tossed his complaints to the media, crying loudly about how destructive these animals were. He consulted the state’s environmental protection agencies. The news buzzed with the town board’s threats to rid the town of their feathered guests. The citizens stood on edge, ready to fight city hall. And through it all, the geese played complacently in the town park, totally clueless of their impending fate.
The days passed and the plan was devised. Permits were obtained to declare the animals as pests to society and their death sentence was signed. Ah, there it was. Now it would be legal … all one hundred and fifty geese would be gassed and buried in one mass grave. The town board gloated with pride in their plan even as the townsfolk rebelled.
People cried. People pleaded. People offered ideas as a solution to the problem. One family even offered to transport the geese to their own property. To no avail. The mayor wanted those geese DEAD.
A flock of activists made a phone call to PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – begging for help. PETA made phone calls to city hall offering solutions to the problem. But the mayor would not budge. By the end of the month, all 150 geese would be allowed to molt so they could not fly. Then they would be gathered, gassed, and buried.
The days passed and the people gathered together. Volunteers worked day and night to plan and organize a counterattack. But the clock was ticking and time was running out. There seemed to be only one hope … to get those geese out of the park and to keep them out. But how?
Over the next few weeks animal lovers worked long hours chasing geese. Over and over again they would shoo the animals away. But, the geese would always return. Could they convince the animals to STAY away? Hours passed into days. People rowed out on the lake to chase the birds. They shooed them away from the land. The geese would fly … and slowly, less and less of them returned. Were they getting the picture?
The weeks went by and less and less news about the geese landed on the television sets. But, many manhours were being clocked in the background running geese out of town. The day came when finally the mayor noticed that there were only 20 geese left at Collins Lake who refused to leave. His plan was foiled.
The town board threw up their hands and agreed that the geese were longer a problem in Scotia and that a little gaggle of 20 geese could be tolerated. The plan to gas the geese was buried then and there, never to be exhumed. After a long, hard fight the citizens of Scotia won. And everyone was happy at last.
But as a postscript we must add that these geese were lucky to have the love and hard work of a wonderful community of people behind them to save their feathers from sheer destruction. But throughout the United States, thousands of wild geese are slaughtered because they “come in the way” of mankind. They are killed legally and often with less “humane” means. Permits are given to claim these beautiful animals as “pests to society” and their death sentence is signed by hands of law (notice I say “law” … never “justice”).
It’s time we stand up for the rights of wild animals who are being murdered just because they live.
