TRUELY A TRAGEDY

Believe me, I was at a loss for words when DaveKay sent me this. It's not from any webcam but I want everyone to know about it. Just who are these people and how can they do this is beyond me.

.

I have attached a single photo to this email, which will be explained in a minute or two.

Sometime during the period of time from the evening of June 26, and the morning of June 27, the entire goose population, along with some ducks, disappeared from Wilkins Lake. The mystery was solved in an article that appeared in the local newspaper on the evening of June 27 - the entire group, all the Toulouse, all the African, all the Chinese, all the hybrids, including 27 goslings - were euthanized.

The City, along with the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, acted upon the complaints of many of the park users who found the birds messy and hard to control. As a result, the F&G group moved in on the evening of the 26, netted the birds, and slaughtered them. It was easy to gather them up - the domestic geese couldn't fly, the Canada geese had molted their primary feathers and couldn't fly, and, of course, the little goslings had not yet learned to fly.

We have become a throw-away society, a desensitized nation that believes all will be O.K. if the "reset" button on the big Video Game we call life is pushed repeatedly, and often.. We tire of something, we merely dispose of it, and move onto the next diversion. It doesn't make any difference if the diversion is a living, breathing thing which is just as deserving of life as we are. We are victims only in the sense that we are addicted to the concept of "instant gratification". There is no such thing - gratification, in its true sense, has to be earned in order to be appreciated.

True beauty, like those beautiful creatures that once graced our park lake, no longer stands alone. It has to be "politically correct" before it is accepted for its merits by the Desensitized.

The squirrels are next: then watch for the songbirds to follow.

I have a suggestion - take Nature out of the park - replace it with plastic flowers and trees, lay AstroTurf, and cover the whole thing with a gigantic geodesic dome. No mess there...

At the city limits, there is a sign declaring Winchester as a "Bird Sanctuary". It probably won't be me, but I can't be too certain if that sign will continue to stand...
.
.
Info courtesy of DaveKay
.

DaveKay, I am truely sorry for the loss of these beautiful birds. I have to wonder just why it is that the whole thing happened under the cover of darkness and not in the light of day.