Federal officials have rounded up as many as 700 geese from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge that will be euthanized as a means to prevent the birds from flying into passenger planes leaving Queens's two airports, CBS New York reports.
In April, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., proposed a bill that would allow authorities to remove Canada geese from the refuge in June and July when the birds cannot fly due to molting.
"We could not afford to sit back and wait for a catastrophe to occur before cutting through bureaucratic red tape between federal agencies,” Gillibrand said. “We are finally taking action to help reduce bird strikes and save lives.”
Now, federal officials have removed the birds from Jamaica Bay and plan to euthanize them in order to prevent airstrikes with planes leaving LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airports, according to CBS.
Animal rights activists told CBS they believed that killing the geese was unnecessary and that the birds "are not posing any threat" to aircrafts leaving the borough.
