Friday, January 16, 2009

Canada Rises Up

Word on the street is that it was Canada geese that brought the plane down in the East river yesterday:

Though the Federal Aviation Administration has cautioned that the cause of the accident remains under investigation, one theory that quickly emerged was that the plane had encountered a large flock of geese. Sen. Charles E. Schumer said Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters told him it appeared that Canada geese, which migrate through the New York area, might have knocked out both engines. - LA Times

Wikipedia has already immortalized the international incident on its 'Canada Goose' page:

A collision with a flock of Canada geese is initially blamed for a US Airways Airbus 320 suffering a total power loss after takeoff from New York LaGuardia Airport on 15 January 2009. The plane landed in the Hudson River causing no fatal injuries to the 155 passengers and crew.

...expecting reprisals today. It's just as I suspected:

Since 1999, The United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agency has been engaged in lethal culls of Canada Geese primarily in urban or densely populated areas.

Act of terror? Canada finally rising up, in their Oh-so-Canada way? Canada goose poop is a passive-aggressive act of terror to the world. There's practically biological warfare going on in Central Park already.
Posted by at 11:38 AM

9 comments:

  1. There is a flock of Canada geese that winters in the pond in front of my apartment. I thought I noticed some of them giving me dirty looks as I drove past... Maybe I shouldn't drink the water.

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  2. I presume that a flock of geese encountering an A320 airplane is quite lethal - at least for the birds. It's not about poop - there's bodies colliding and general mayhem.
    Here's a pic of how a (smaller) plane looks when hit at the front: http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:3XuHab_guwtf-M:http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v105/124/99/37612620/n37612620_32575860_4935.jpg

    As Canada Geese are native to the USA and Canada and certainly don't carry any passports, it's like saying that Germany is doing whatever after a German Shepherd attacks whomever or that Peru is hostile to little kids after a Peruvian Hairless Dog has peed in a sandbox or whatever.

    IMHO it's more an issue of human interference with bird migration, habitat degradation and wildlife protection targeting specific species instead of whole eco-systems than anything else.

    Btw: I am really glad that no human was seriously hurt.

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  3. yes, companero, I think you're right. But still, they do create a lot of poop.

    And yes, such a miracle that everybody was saved, yay!

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  4. Canada Geese are nothin' but mafan

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  5. hey! Canada geese rock :)

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  6. This is hilarious! So this is how Canada wants to do it huh?

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  7. Reading this post reminds me how much I'll miss listening to you. I just know if this were a podcast every time you would say the word poop we'd get that famous Amber giggle.

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  8. hahahaha yes sing4mike, I am giggling now reading you writing 'poop' haha!

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  9. Indeed. I was terrorized throughout my entire childhood in Long Island: any time I stepped onto a patch of grass I ran the risk of stepping in a landmine of goose poop.

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