Goose hunting to continue

[Moderator]

http://www.milforddailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=100448

Goose hunting to continue
By Matt Lynch/ Daily News Staff
Thursday, October 5, 2006 - Updated: 02:08 AM EST

HOPEDALE -- Against impassioned pleas from some residents, the town said last night the hunting of Canada geese at Hopedale Pond will continue but left the door open for other population control methods.

Park Commission Chairman Richard Espanet said the geese hunting will resume in late October when the season opens again but also said the commission will consider other methods during next spring’s mating season.

"We’ll work with you," Espanet told the group gathered to oppose the hunting. "But I’m not telling you the hunting is going to stop."



Espanet said the commission will wait for the spring when the geese return to lay eggs to see if the hunting worked. "If we find out it was not successful, like the other methods we’ve tried, we won’t do it," he said.

But some residents begged the commission to call off the hunting before it resumes Oct. 25.

"We just want the board to vote tonight to rescind the order allowing the hunting," said Walter Swift, a resident who has led the opposition to the hunting. "We agree this is a problem. What we disagree about is the method you’re taking to deal with the problem."

The town has battled a steadily rising Canada geese population at the pond for many years and allowed hunters onto the land in September after a series of more humane population control methods failed, Espanet said.

Espanet said the hunters were only at the pond twice in September, killing eight geese during a total of about three hours of hunting.

Last night’s Park Commission meeting brought out supporters and opponents of the hunting.

"I support the hunting, I just think the town is approaching it the wrong way," said resident Patrick Evans, who favored allowing residents to do the hunting rather than allowing hunters from outside Hopedale.

Members of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were also in attendance. Along with residents opposed to the hunting, the MSPCA presented the commission with a program it said would be more effective in the long term than hunting.

By oiling the eggs to prevent them from hatching and taking steps to make the land hostile to geese, the flock would not want to return to the area, they said.

"This program moves the geese to an area where they are not in conflict with humans," said Bryn Conklin, an MSPCA animal protection issues specialist.

Espanet said the commission would consider that approach next spring when the geese lay more eggs but would not call off this year’s hunt.

"That’s one method we haven’t tried and we’d be open to look at it," said Espanet.

After the meeting, Swift said he was disappointed with the board’s decision to continue to allow hunting.

"I really wanted them to vote to rescind the order to allow hunting," he said. "If you go in and hunt, you’ll kill eight to 12 geese. If you addle (oil) the eggs, you eliminate 48 to 60 eggs."

After the meeting, the board stayed mum regarding a threatening letter addressed to two town officials criticizing the decision to allow the hunting.

Espanet said before the meeting the board had no comment and when a resident brought it up, Espanet said, "You get the lunatic fringe with anything and I’m going to leave it at that."

 

[The Goose]

Oh shit!!!

 

[Moderator]

Police can’t trace letter with threat

In related news

Police can’t trace letter with threat
http://www.milforddailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=100387

HOPEDALE -- An envelope, containing a letter threatening two town employees over the local geese problem, was thrown away, leaving police unable to trace it, town officials said yesterday.

The letter, addressed to Town Coordinator Gene Phillips and copied to Health Inspector Leonard Izzo, closed with the sentence, "Watch your back because someone might open fire on you and your children some day."

"We don’t have the original envelope, so I think it would be physically impossible to trace," said Phillips. "I showed it to the chief this morning."



Officials said the letter was a response to the town’s decision to let hunters shoot Canada geese at Hopedale Pond. The letter was sent to Phillips’ office but opened by his assistant, who then placed the anonymous letter in the selectmen’s packet of information for Monday night’s meeting.

The town’s decision to allow five hunters to shoot geese at Hopedale Pond in an effort to control the population has generated protest on Web sites across the country.

Officials said they believe the letter was probably not written by a Hopedale resident.

"I suspect it came from somewhere out of state because a lot of stuff ended up on goose-lover Web sites," said selectmen Chairman Alan Ryan. "It very likely didn’t come from someone in town."

The letter also drew the ire of residents who have protested the geese shooting.

Beverly Swift, one of the residents leading the opposition to the shooting, said she was disgusted by the letter.

"That’s just not right," said Swift. "I’m appalled by that. We certainly wouldn’t want to get into anything like that."

Swift and other residents opposed to the shooting will attend tonight’s Park Commission meeting, along with a member of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where the topic is on the agenda.

Ryan said Phillips had not actually been aware of the letter until Monday night’s meeting, since an assistant opened the mail and then put the letter in the selectmen’s packets.

The two-page letter began by criticizing the town’s decision and then quickly devolved into a rant that ended with the overt threat against Phillips and Izzo.

"It talked about the geese and said it is despicable what we are doing," said Ryan. "It then connected that to a society where there are school shootings. And then it went from bad to worse.

"The end part was just disturbing," he added.

Phillips said he won’t give the letter any credence and plans to just put the issue to rest.

"We’ve decided the less we talk about it, the better," said Phillips.

Although the envelope was thrown out, the town still has the original letter. But Ryan said there are no plans to dust the letter for fingerprints or investigate the matter any further.

"I don’t think it will go that far," he said. "I really don’t think somebody local did it."

Matt Lynch can be reached at 508-634-7556 or mlynch@cnc.com.

 

[Coyote33]

Oh s4!t!!!

(Coyote season approaching soon...)

 

[JellyFish]

Heh, heh.

Oh shit!!!

 

[JellyFish]

More eco-wacko terrorism. Can't these fools see that hunting is a GOOD thing to help manage wildlife that would otherwise not have any predators in that area?

In related news

Police can’t trace letter with threat
http://www.milforddailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=100387