The largest threats to environmental health—stormwater runoff, agricultural chemicals, industrial discharges, and sprawling development—often far outweigh any impact from wildlife. Yet animals like Canada geese, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer—modern-day survivors of deep evolutionary lineages—are frequently portrayed as ecological nuisances. Canada geese and wild turkeys, both descended from theropods such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor, and deer, whose ancestors once roamed alongside mammoths and saber-toothed cats, are not invaders but long-standing members of North America’s ecological community, with roles that predate human settlement by millions of years.

For thousands of years, Native Americans coexisted with these species in balance, but egg harvesting, overhunting, and widespread destruction of forests and wetlands during European colonization caused massive declines. By the early 1900s, Canada geese, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer—once abundant—were approaching regional extinction, victims not of natural imbalance but of human expansion and exploitation.

The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 offered a lifeline to waterfowl like the Canada goose, providing legal protection and spurring the creation of wildlife refuges. Similarly, mid-20th-century conservation efforts reintroduced wild turkeys and restored white-tailed deer populations across the United States. Ironically, these recoveries are now so successful that the very species once nearly eradicated are blamed for “overpopulating” suburban lawns, golf courses, and parks—the same manicured, human-designed habitats that replaced their natural ecosystems.

Canada geese, adaptable and intelligent, capitalized on human-created environments—open grassy fields, retention ponds, and artificial lakes—turning recreational spaces into nesting grounds. Deer discovered ample forage along road edges, suburban gardens, and fragmented forests. Wild turkeys, once creatures of deep woods, now strut along cul-de-sacs and corporate campuses, thriving in landscapes built for human convenience. Their resurgence is not an invasion but a mirror: a reflection of how profoundly we have reshaped the land.

So, while we grumble about “too many geese” fouling ponds or “too many deer” in our headlights, we overlook the true culprits—our roads, our sewage systems, our fertilizers, our monoculture lawns, and impermeable pavement. These are the real drivers of algae blooms, erosion, and habitat degradation. Blaming wildlife for the consequences of our excess is a comforting deflection—a kind of ecological scapegoating, or perhaps, scape-goosing.

In truth, the geese, the turkeys, and the deer are not the problem; they are survivors. They endure in spite of us, not because of us. To scape-goose them for anthropogenic ruin—to blame geese for algae blooms, turkeys for suburban trespass, and deer for nibbling gardens—is to punish resilience as if it were guilt, while humanity sidesteps the consequences of the roads we build, the fertilizers we spread, and the ecosystems we unravel.

Behind the official facade of conservation, agencies like the USDA Wildlife Services (WS) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) often act as enforcers for industrial agriculture and recreational hunting, fishing, and trapping interests. While these agencies claim to manage wildlife for public benefit, their actions frequently prioritize corporate profits and lobbying agendas over ecological health and animal welfare.

Wildlife Services: Hitmen for Animal Agriculture & Purveyors of taxpayer waste

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS)’s Wildlife Services division is tasked with managing conflicts with wild animals that allegedly threaten human health, livestock, or property. Yet, whether it’s deer in Southold or geese in Islip, Wildlife Services has historically relied on lethal measures at nearly every turn. In its early days, massive poisoning campaigns targeting predators waged a literal war on wildlife, the ecological consequences of which linger to this day. Modern Wildlife Services continues this legacy, killing millions annually—reflecting an entrenched culture that treats violence as the default solution to human-wildlife conflicts.

In 2021 alone, Wildlife Services spent $124 million in taxpayer dollars to slaughter 1.76 million animals. Of those, 400,000 were native species, some were even pets, and at least 3,000 were killed unintentionally. Countless others were eliminated by private contractors operating with the blessing of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, a sister agency complicit in extending this lethal agenda.

NEw york DEC: The Local enforcer

The NY DEC frequently mirrors Wildlife Services’ (WS) priorities, implementing policies that favor industry and recreational lobbies:

• Supporting hunting, fishing, and trapping regulations that maintain profitable wildlife populations rather than natural ecological balance.

• Endorsing lethal wildlife control measures in urban and suburban areas under the guise of public safety to promote hunting opportunities. 

• Facilitating industrial agricultural interests through regulatory or technical assistance, sometimes directly contracting with agencies like WS for costly, ineffective, and endlessly repeating taxpayer-funded kill contracts. 

The DEC presents hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses as supporting the NYS Conservation Fund, giving the impression of a conservation purpose, when in reality the Fund primarily subsidizes hunting, fishing, and trapping programs. It even allows money to be used to promote shooting (Section 83, State Finance Law), effectively humane-washing the killing of animals for recreation under the guise of conservation.

The Conservation Fund Advisory Board (CFAB), which advises the DEC on policies, plans, and programs affecting fish and wildlife—including how Conservation Fund money is spent—requires members to be longtime hunters, fishers, or trappers. Licensed wildlife rehabilitators are excluded, even though organizations like Humane Long Island and Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center absorb far greater costs rescuing and treating animals harmed by hunting, fishing, and trapping than hunters contribute through their $22 licenses. When questioned, DEC leadership told Humane Long Island that rehabilitators are not considered stakeholders because they do not “pay into the Fund,” ignoring the immense public service and financial burden borne by those who actually care for wildlife harmed by these very same licensees.

Lack of Transparency

In 2017, Humane Long Island was invited to speak before the Lake Ronkonkoma Advisory Board about Canada geese. Prior to our presentation, representatives from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and USDA Wildlife Services proposed massacring 200 geese on the lake. Candidly acknowledging potential public backlash, they even suggested conducting the killing under cover of night and using fertility control ahead of the season—a tactic they argued would reduce the chance of the public catching them on camera. This came moments after the same representatives had told the board that fertility control “didn’t work,” claiming lethal removal was the only option.

If Humane LI hadn’t been present to call out these contradictions, hundreds of geese would have been killed, only to be replaced by a new flock the following year—continuing the same deadly cycle. Thankfully, the Advisory Board adopted our non-lethal recommendations instead.

While Humane Long Island has successfully prevented wildlife massacres across Long Island nearly every time we’ve intervened, state and federal agencies routinely circumvent accountability. For instance, when Humane LI filed a FOIL request in 2022 for records related to deer and geese kill contracts, the DEC denied the request in its entirety, citing: “POL 87.2.f. Could endanger the life or safety of any person if disclosed.”

Dodging ‘fair chase’, endangering public safety & KIlling pets

Violating Freedom of Information Law is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of state and federal agencies exempting themselves from the law. For example, the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) protects migratory birds, including Canada geese, from being hunted during their molting season—when they are flightless and caring for their babies. Yet, this is precisely when the USDA schedules its Canada geese roundups. 

On Long Island, Wildlife Services agents have routinely baited deer over several days to gain their trust, only to kill them under cover of night using silencers.

The agency’s cruelty extends far beyond prey animals. Wildlife Services is infamous for aerial gunning of wolves from helicopters and deploying M-44 cyanide devices, which release deadly sodium cyanide when triggered, to kill predators like coyotes. These devices are so indiscriminate and dangerous that the Bureau of Land Management banned their use on public lands in 2023 after a child was hospitalized and his dog, Kasey, was killed while triggering one just 400 feet from their home. Similarly, Wildlife Services’ use of Sodium Fluoroacetate (Compound 1080) is highly irresponsible due to its extreme toxicity, risk to non-target animals, environmental hazards, and human safety concerns.

poisoning the underprivileged

Killing wildlife is a public relations nightmare, so officials often attempt to sanitize these massacres by announcing that the meat will be donated to low-income communities. This tactic, framed as “feeding the hungry,” is deeply patronizing and exposes a glaring contradiction: these animals are supposedly killed because they are starving, sickly, or disease-ridden—yet their flesh is somehow considered safe enough to serve to marginalized communities.

Legitimate hunger-relief organizations, including the NYC Coalition for the Homeless and Long Island’s Community Solidarity, have publicly rejected these carcass donations—in part, due to contamination risks. For example, after more than 700 geese were slaughtered at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, their meat was sent to a Westchester food bank with explicit warnings: the New York State Department of Health advised no more than two meals per month because the birds may have been exposed to environmental contaminants. Additionally, the meat carried a second warning: it could contain birdshot, the small lead pellets used in shotgun shells, posing a risk of chipped teeth or ingestion hazards, and requiring recipients to carefully inspect the meat while preparing it.

This so-called “charitable” gesture is less about feeding the hungry and more about laundering public perception while continuing a cycle of unnecessary, dangerous, and cruel wildlife killings.