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February 3, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PBS Environmental Report is Propaganda:
Sioux Falls Airport Goose Kill is Excuse for Hunting Season.

Contact: Dr. Ann Frisch, Coalition to Protect Canada Geese
Cell phone: (808) 386-7772

Sioux Falls -- A $19,500 study by the Sioux Falls, SD, Regional Airport recommending hunting to protect air passenger safety is pure propaganda, according to the Coalition to Protect Canada Geese. Coalition experts who reviewed the report recommending the capture and killing of Canada Geese have concluded that recommendations by PBS Environmental do not show that air passengers will be safer. "Rathburn [the Principal Investigator at the Vancouver, WA, consulting firm] would have taxpayers pay for killing geese in programs that will not protect humans," concluded Dr. Ann Frisch, National Coordinator for the Coalition to Protect Canada Geese." Her analysis of the report, shows that it is full of reckless claims to carry out the agenda of special interests and make money for government agencies at citizens' expense.

Janet Henjum, Co-Chair of Friends of Waterfowl at Sioux Falls which has been monitoring the situation there, verified that there were no FAA bird strike reports at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport in 1999. She also confirmed that the Sioux Falls Regional Airport had a permit in 1999 from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to deal with emergency situations. That fact was concealed from the public in the PBS Environmental report.

Waterfowl expert Don Feare, J.D., Founder and Executive Director of Wildflight Rescue Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas, reviewed the PBS Environmental report. Commenting on the suggested capture and hunting programs, Feare said: "Breaking the problem down into lay terms, if one has spilled some sugar in a house and an infestation of ants takes place, do you spend your time killing the ants by the millions, or do you remove the source that has brought them into the house?" He continues, commenting on the PBS solutions: "The options provided [by PBS Environmental] as methods of control are what could be considered 'boilerplate' suggestions. They are the same as given in almost every report ever generated and really do not require a study."

Frisch, Professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and PhD in Human Ecology from Michigan State University, said the report should have been an "automatic F" because of misrepresentation of data, failure to investigate, and fraudulent claims.

"Imagine authorities claiming they are concerned about air safety recommending a hunting season near the airport!" Frisch said. "But game managers, eager to increase their funds, want close-to-home hunting. So while an airport hunting season is dangerous to passengers, it would likely bring in some new revenues from licenses." Feare agreed that hunting is not advisable: "If they allow shooting at the goose sites, even if it were safe, it might force the geese to fly toward the airport, thereby creating a danger that would not have otherwise existed."

The study failed to investigate and document the Canada goose restoration programs in the Dakotas and in Minnesota. The University of Minnesota has a Canada goose relocation program transporting goslings from the Twin Cities area to western Minnesota and other states. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, similarly, has been relocating goslings from Green Bay to western Wisconsin. So if there is an increase in the Canada goose population, it is being done by the state game managers who were the major sources of information for the PBS report. Game agencies want to continue their restoration programs, even at the expense of the public, because it brings in federal and state tax revenues. The secret cookie jar is revenue from Pittman Robertson Act that taxes firearms (including Saturday night specials and throw-away guns only used to kill people). Tax revenues go to USFWS for redistribution to states on the basis of land area and number of licensed hunters. State taxes match the federal taxes $1 to $3 to grow more geese and other animals to be living targets for hunters.

A copy of the PBS report and the experts' comments are available from Janet Henjum at (605) 334 -2496. Don Feare can be reached at (817) 336-5163. Dr. Frisch can be reached in Honolulu at (808) 386-7772 cell. (If cell phone is not operational, email to afrisch276@aol.com.)




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