Feeding ban a good start

The South Brunswick Township Council’s decision to ban residents from feeding geese is a good first step at solving a problem, but more is needed.

Farmer Jesse Voight said it best during Tuesday night’s meeting: "We all have to work together."

The thousands of geese inhabiting the Central Jersey region seem to like our manicured lawns, retention ponds and willingness to share our food with them.

This problem stems from federal protection gone awry.

At one time, it may have been necessary to protect the birds from being hunted to extinction, but those days are long gone.

There are few natural enemies to the geese other than man. This allows them to continuously re-populate unchecked in our communities.

They have now reached a level where they are a nuisance to the human population.

Health officials say that their droppings constitute a threat to our health, and they do leave a mess in our parks.

Dealing with the problem will take much more than a few trained dogs, windmills, or bans on giving them food.

As with all animals on the planet, there must be a balance of population.

We have seen the cost rise for humans when deer, geese and bears are allowed to increase their populations without any controls.

The federal legislation that protects these feathered fiends is hopelessly outdated now, and should be changed.

Councilman Van Hessen has a good idea.

Send the delegation of congressional representatives in Washington, D.C., a resolution from all 600 some state municipalities stating that there is a problem.

With that kind of response, it will be hard for those controlling the regulations to maintain such outdated standards.

If enough people and towns join together on this issue, a resolution can be developed that everyone can live with.