Last week, Councilmember Brad Lander introduced a city council bill that "would establish a Wildlife Management Committee to oversee wildlife in city parks in hopes of preventing drastic methods of wildlife management, like the mass extermination of hundreds of park geese last summer," reports the .
Under the proposed legislation, the city would form a Wildlife Management Committee composed of 11 animal experts – from academics to activists. Mayor Michael Bloomberg would appoint three of the committee members, as would Council Speaker Christine Quinn. The remaining five members would be made up parks and sanitation department employees.
The bill also calls for the board to draft a citywide wildlife management plan to promote humane treatment and “biological diversity” for park animals. If the legislation passes, the board would hear public input on how to more humanely manage wildlife in the city.
The board, however, would be purely advisory – the city would not be in anyway bound to act on the board’s recommendations.
“As we learned all too well last year there is absolutely nothing the City Council can do if the mayor and the DEP decide to cull the geese again this year,” said Rachel Goodman, a spokesperson for Lander, in an e-mail.
Don't expect support from Mayor Bloomberg, however, who has made his opinion on the geese clear in the past, and who has remained silent about it since.
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