The green light came down from the bosses. You see a goose, leave it in the street...

Officials plan to reduce the number of Canada geese in New York State by two-thirds, eventually trimming the population to 85,000 from 250,000, according to a report prepared by several city, state and federal agencies.

The reduction is part of a larger plan that also calls for the near halving of the Canada geese population in 17 Atlantic states, to 650,000 from 1.1 million. The New York Times obtained a copy of the report.

In New York City, the report says, the current goose population of 20,000 to 25,000 is “five times the amount that most people would find socially acceptable,” suggesting the number would be reduced to about 4,000.

A high-level official of the United States Department of Agriculture who is familiar with the proposal called it a “one-of-a-kind plan.”

“New York is leading the way,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Plans for other areas, he said, “do not include all the scientific background.”

The document contained specifics of goose removal in the New York area: “The captured geese are placed alive in commercial turkey crates. The geese would be brought to a secure location and euthanized with methods approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Euthanized geese would be buried.”

The plan emerged from five months of meetings that followed the crash-landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after geese flew into its engines and disabled them in January 2009. The plan was completed in summer 2009 but not made public.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/nyregion/24geese.html?src=mv