Re: Harvest the Geese to feed the homeless (Letters, Aug. 22)
In response to Todd Allen’s suggestion that Nelson feed our homeless population with the Canada geese that congregate at Lakeside (and with all due respect): No.
No to taking unsolicited advice on wildlife management from urban American tourists. (We love you! Keep supporting our local businesses!)
No to believing that we can somehow sanitize our town of the effects of sharing space with a vast array of non-human creatures. We are nestled between a lake and large mountain range: cohabitation with wildlife is necessary and inevitable.
No to casting judgement and making inaccurate assumptions about the needs of an often marginalized group of people in our community. We have an incredible local network of volunteers and professionals aligned with social service providers who work tirelessly to support those in need. I’m sure they would be more than happy to accept a donation to sustain the good work that they continue to do as opposed to receiving yet one more uneducated opinion about how they should be doing it.
In the spirit of the challenge Todd has offered our city counsel, I challenge him (and others) to resist the perpetuation of a man vs. nature mindset and to also consider making a donation to one of our local food banks.
See you next summer, Todd!
Sarah James
Nelson