Activists to Protest in Lacey to Save Deerhead Lake's Geese

A protest will be held by activists at 6 p.m. Thursday, prior to the township committee's caucus meeting, in objection to the governing body's  to capture and kill the geese at .

“They call it a cull, but in reality what is going to happen is the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) is going to come in and most likely round up the geese and goslings at Deerhead Lake, then one by one cram them into a makeshift gas chamber and gas them to death,” said David Sauder, president of Animal Rights Activists of New Jersey.

On March 9, the committee approved a conditional vote to enter a contract with the USDA by April 1 to capture and euthanize the geese. If a vendor or individual offered to relocate the geese prior to that date, the committee would reconsider. Alternatives to euthanization are still being considered, committee members said.

“The committee is rethinking the whole situation,” Mayor Mark Dykoff said.

Sauder and other activists have argued that the decision to capture would be a waste of taxpayers' money since more geese will just return to the location and that there are more humane methods to control the geese population.

Animal Rights Activists of New Jersey urged the township to contact Humane Society of the United States, GeesePeace and the Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese for more information on co-habitating with the birds, he said.

The activists were pushing for one particular vendor at the last committee meeting, Dykoff said. “I found that disconcerting.”

“We’re looking into it in our own way,” he said.

Committeemen David Most and Gary Quinn along with Recreation Director James Wioland met with an eagle kite vendor recently.

Prior to the activists’ outcry at the committee meeting, Wioland had looked into many vendors, including border collies, and benchmarked many towns, Most said.

“People thought we didn’t do enough research,” Most said. “The reality of it is we’ve been doing our homework all along and looking at other avenues.”

The demonstration by the eagle kite vendor was “productive,” Most said. The device mimics an eagle to scare the geese.

“Have I reversed my decision? Well, it’s a definite alternative,” Most said. “We’ll give it a shot.”

Most is unsure how the eagle kite will work in the long-term but it comes with a money-back guarantee, he said.

“With a money-back guarantee, why would you do the capture?” he said.

Lacey resident Elaine Buzzeo was at the demonstration and took video, which is attached to this story. As someone who has rescued dogs for over 16 years, she works to recondition mill dogs.

“You can condition anything. There’s not really a need to do what they’re doing,” she said of the possibility of gassing geese.

“I’ve seen gassing done and it’s not a pretty thing,” she said. “I’m not an animal rights person but I don’t believe anything deserves to be gassed.”

Gassing is a prolonged method that slowly kills the animals by suffocation, she said.

Not only is the method inhumane, but gassing would not be cost effective as it’s just a temporary fix, she said.

“It’s focusing on one area in Lacey,” she said. “The issue is in Clune Park, it’s in the parks, it’s on the baseball fields. If they found something to use across town, it would be more effective.”

GeeseBusters appeared to use an effective method, where it conditions the geese by using an eagle kite associated with a whistle, Buzzeo said. Unfortunately there were only two geese at the lake at the time but they flew away immediately.

Most pointed out that the township is not in a contract with the USDA yet.

“Our objective is to return the beach back so people can bath at the beach,” he said. “I remember as a kid, you couldn’t even place a towel on the beach because it was so busy. We’re just trying to return the lake to its normal state.”

The township is exploring other options as well as putting rocks down on the grass, Most said. That method will be used in addition to installing signage to prohibit residents from feeding the geese and egg and nest addling, which the township previously voted on.

“This is a very emotional issue for people, including myself,” Most said. “I don’t take it lightly. But there has to be a balance there.”

Each of these methods is only a part of the town’s efforts to restore the lake, he said. The township also is looking into other projects, such as drainage, to “enhance the beauty of the beach.”

“Animal Rights Activists of New Jersey fears this is just the beginning of the slaughter of geese in many communities in New Jersey,” Sauder said.

Berkeley Township also is looking into methods to control its geese population and has summoned Animal Control to cull eggs and trap.

“Ultimately it will require a change in people’s lifestyles to stop the killing until an efficient, cost-effective contraception for geese is found,” Sauder said. “People need to stop viewing suburban sprawl including single housing, shopping centers, manicured lawns and retention ponds as the human ideal.”

Modern sprawls mean “death to geese,” Sauder said and to save wildlife, people need to reside closer to urban areas, live in multi-unit housing, return developed suburban areas to the wild, lower the human population in New Jersey and acquire less material things.

The township will be revisiting the issue at the March 22 meeting at 7 p.m.

In the meantime, GooseWatch NYC has created a petition in opposition to the committee’s conditional vote. The appeal, which petitions the township administrator, all committee members and the recreation director, has 1,908 signatures so far.

A Facebook group, Concerned Citizens of Lacey for Humanity, was launched by Buzzeo and has 50 “likes” so far. The group also opposes the committee’s conditional vote and has produced a flier that is circulating around town. The flier, “Stop the Slaughter,” was passed out at Popcorn Park Zoo on Sunday and is attached to this story as a PDF.