|
Email for rates. |
As I see it 10-22-99
If the gracious bureaucrats who run the various DNRs and wildlife groups around the midwest had a load of goose droppings on their front steps-or driveways, you could bet a fortune they would marshal their collective forces overnight to come up with an instant plan to get rid of the out-of-control populations of wild Canada geese. If Cook Co. Board president John Stroger, or mayor Daley, and governor Ryan slipped on the green droppings on their way into their sacred government offices, you could win the cookie if you noted these powerful icons would have their people talk to some other people and have the geese removed before you could say deems, dems, and dohs. But we are the common folk-and we don't get service like that. But the issue of Canada geese in the metro areas of the Midwest will be on the agenda this week when fish and game officials meet in Chicago to justify their jobs. Bureaucrats love meetings-and the reams of reports generated from those gatherings. They love to call attention to studies and the mountains of reports issued from them. They love double-speak-especially when it comes to hotly contested issues like the Lake Michigan commercial perch fishing issue. They tread carefully, not wanting to gore any ox-or jeopardize their security and job. Canada geese are everywhere.They are in office parks-parking lots, school lots, shopping centers, golf courses-you name it, the geese are there. And now there's a proposal on the table to eliminate the geese by using them as a food source for various food pantries in the Midwest. Canada geese are wonderful to eat-roasted, smoked, or deep-fried-but wait a minute... You can also bet the farm that the tree huggers, the friends of animals, the anti-this or that groups, will come racing out of the wood work to demand the Canada geese be allowed to survive-even in the wilds of downtown Chicago. Actually-I applaud the bureaucrats for saying that they will study the issue and maybe, eventually come up with a pantry plan to offer tasty Canada geese as a staple. In fact-if the plan ever becomes a reality, I think the first bureaucrat to actually initiate the program, should be nominated for the Nobel peace prize. I say humans need to make a choice. If it comes to swerving off the road and crashing into a tree along Rt. 68 one dark and dreary night to avoid Mr. Possum or Mrs. Raccoon, I say up with roadkill-and down with possible death and injury to humans. If it comes to eliminating coyotes in the burbs and cities-I am all for protecting the housepets we often leave outside to sleep and romp. Look- I have nothing against Canada geese or white tailed deer. I am thankful for their presence in the wilds of the country-like around the waterways of the Fox Chain and Fox River. I enjoy pulling into a certain Cook Co. forest preserve and observing a dozen deer feeding just inside the tree line. I also enjoy watching muskrats, beaver, and red fox do their thing in the woods. But when it comes to stepping into it, sliding around from it, and having to defend myself with stealthlike abilities, I then believe it's time the food pantries become a destination for the tasty geese. Believe me when I tell you I truly love animals...they taste very good on my plates at all times of the year.
(c) Copyright Mike Jackson Outdoors Communications Network
|
