Geese Pit Environmentalists Against Animal Rights Activists

WASHINGTON - Along the Anacostia River in Anacostia Park hungry Canada geese live year-round, eating new plants in the wetlands as fast as they're planted.

Now environmentalists and animal rights activists are squaring off over what should be done about them.

Environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, say the number of geese should be reduced.

National Park Service Supervisory Resource Management Specialist Stephen Syphax says the birds could be rounded up and euthanized or "euthanized and prepared properly for human consumption."

Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, says roundups are incredibly cruel.

"They separate lifetime mates from each other and from their goslings, and they basically have to sit and watch each other die."

Another option could be to locate the nests, coat the eggs with vegetable oil and essentially smother the eggs before the embryos develop, says Syphax.

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