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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, May 11, 2008

Let area hunters kill the geese

By RALPH NESTOR / Cashton, Wis.

I find it necessary to write about two articles in the April 15 Tribune.

One deals with killing nuisance geese in Sparta’s parks. The Humane Society of the United States has asked that Sparta not kill its nuisance geese. I agree — let me and other hunters do it. We will fully use the meat and get rid of the problem in one quick action. These geese have multiplied through folks feeding them and a prohibition on hunting them in town. So why oil their eggs, or have government agents round them up for slaughter, all at taxpayers’ cost? We, local hunters, will do it for no cost to city residents.

The second article worthy of comments is about the “humanely produced” milk coming to us from three small farms in the Seymour area. Their cows are treated “as a mother should be treated.” How nice.

They are cows — not humans — and like any animal of considerable value are treated very well by farmers who rely on them for their livelihood. Treating them inhumanely equates into less milk and less money, so it is in each farmer’s best interest to treat them well, and 99 percent of them do just that. The last sentence in this article says that the milk will sell for more than not labeled milk but less than organic milk.

Does this mean that the new label is no more than a marketing tool meant to cast doubt in consumer’s minds about the quality and wholesomeness of milk products not labeled “humanely produced?”