Why the "Three Musketeer Project?" It quickly became apparent that this is an "All for One and One for All" issue - in other words, there's no silver bullet. Rather, it will take the collective effort of agencies, the community at large, and individual citizens to clean up the goose problem on State Street. If anyone fails to deliver on their end, the project will not succeed.
With agencies moving together, then, the key outstanding question remains: "How will the public respond to removing the domestic geese?" It's a huge unknown. If we provide accurate information that includes the facts that the public is harming each bird by feeding it bread and other substances not helpful to their diets, and that the ultimate health and welfare of each individual bird is enhanced by relocating them to farms and other appropriate places, this should be a win-win for everyone, especially the geese. We'll see . . .
I'm glad to see a coalition coming together to address this problem. The prison goose population has gotten out of hand and it is creating dangerous conditions on State Street. I wonder if the public might be more accepting if alternatives were promoted at the same time this problem was cleaned up? Salem has several parks where waterfowl viewing blinds might work. Dan Hilburn
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