Protests against killing of geese turn violent

Saturday, June 22, 2002
By HECTOR CASTRO
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The clash between federal wildlife agents gathering geese to euthanize and demonstrators opposed to the practice became violent this week.

King County sheriff's deputies Thursday arrested a 55-year-old Seattle man for investigation of assault after he allegedly caused a collision with a U.S. Department of Agriculture truck.

"He was basically trying to cause an accident and finally did," said Mike Linnell, assistant state director for the USDA.

The incident happened about 7:30 a.m. Thursday in the 11500 block of Rainier Avenue South, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Greg Dymerski said.

Witnesses said the man, in an older Toyota, was pulling in front of USDA vehicles and slamming on his brakes.

The third time the man allegedly did this, witnesses said, the USDA truck driven by a 45-year-old wildlife agent rear-ended the Toyota. The agent suffered neck and back injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Linnell said he was released later that evening.

The suspect in the wreck was booked into the Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Since last week, wildlife agents have been gathering geese and euthanizing them as part of an annual effort to control the population. Officials believe the large numbers of geese and their droppings pose a health risk at parks and water sites.

Other methods of controlling the population include addling eggs or coating them with oil to prevent hatching, fencing, and adding ground cover to deter the birds.

But the rounding up of the birds and killing them is vehemently opposed by several animal rights organizations.

The man arrested has been involved in several other demonstrations, said officials and other activists.

Angela Smith, a member of the University of Washington chapter of the Northwest Animal Rights Network, said the man has organized several "geese patrols" to disrupt the USDA operation.

"We care about geese, and we care about animals and we don't want to see them killed," Smith said. "There are several alternatives. Just going out and breaking their necks or putting them in gas chambers, it's just very inhumane the way they're handling it."

But Linnell said activists have gone too far, and that the latest incident is another example of this.

"Everybody's free to voice their opinion, but when they start running into us ... There was a deliberate attempt to cause an accident. Someone could have very easily been injured or killed," Linnell said.

Smith countered that it isn't just activists who have been combative. Agents, she said, have followed her around in the parks and once blocked her car so she couldn't leave the area.

Although she admits that some activists are more aggressive in trying to disrupt the agents in their work, most, she said, try to draw attention to the geese round-ups without doing anything illegal.

"I don't think that helps our cause," she said.

Nevertheless, Linnell said, the increasingly hostile confrontations are taking a toll on the agents.

"Our people are scared," he said. "This isn't the first time it's happened."