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Man v. Nature: always go with Man

Derrick Jackson at the Boston Globe notices how the Charles River is so nice and clean, these days:

On the Fourth of July, the Charles River retreats to a backdrop for the majestic music of the Pops and the magic of fireworks. On closer look, we have much more to celebrate, as we have granted these once-horribly polluted waters their own independence ...

Not only the river itself but the pathways along the Charles have become much cleaner, the result of efforts by the state and private organizations to reduce the effects of having a large resident geese population.

While some people enjoy having the geese around to look at and listen to, others have been annoyed by the large amount of geese droppings (poop) littering the area, so the Department of Conservation and Recreation, with the assistance of the privately-run Esplanade Association, has begun a mitigation process, known as "Geese Peace".

One of the ways they are reducing the geese population is by destroying thousands of geese eggs. As the Boston Globe reported in 2009, The USDA already helps local officials keep eggs from hatching by coating them in corn oil - an effort that now takes place every spring from the Esplanade to the Public Garden to Jamaica Pond.

Saying you are killing unborn goslings by coating them in oil would repel some people, so everyone involved calls it "addling".

The president of the MSPCA is quoted as saying "killing is not the answer," but the program is mentioned on the MSPCA-angell website as being completed "successfully".

Homeowners around a lake in New Hampshire have gone one step further in the quest to keep geese populations down. According to CNN, the state comes in to take away the geese, which they put in cages and then gas to death euthanize. WMUR-TV covers the story, as well.

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Comments

You're not the goofball who was standing at the BU Bridge the other day with a sign saying "Save the Geese" on one side and "Save the Charles" on the other, are you?

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There used to be an idiot who came down to the power station by the BU bridge on a regular basis with a giant bag (we're talking 2x the size of a large garbage bag) of loaves of bread...if you've seen the area, it's almost completely devoid of vegetation, and the swans and geese practically cover the entire ground.

Now we have to prevent eggs from developing to cull the population.

So before you get high and mighty on your horse, chew out the people who caused the problem in the first place by feeding wildlife.

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If the idiot was feeding the white geese (as opposed to the Canada Geese) then you likely encountered one of our local head cases here in Cambridge (redundant and repetitive, I know). There was an only-in-Cambridge political fracas over a bunch of white geese that nested (and hissed, and shat, etc) in that area. Check it out:

http://www.friendsofthewhitegeese.org/

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Nothing that ten pounds of corn and a bottle of rat poison wouldn't take care of.

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But for the geese, or their human supporter?

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I'd bet dollars to doornails that the guy I saw was a part of this group (maybe even the city councilor). He had handouts that looked like both sides of an 8.5x11 full of info about his cause.

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hmm...so the Charles River is clean huh? So all the empty bottles and bags and things I saw floating around on the 4th, the dead fish floating around on the 1st of July and the used condom i saw floating around like a week before were just figments of my imagination. Go head you jump in first Ill stand by with the tetanus injection for you.

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