Waste not want not, our ancestors said, and they meant it.
Those people knew about want.
They knew what hunger meant. Not just that, “my, it will be nice to eat” hunger. They really experienced wondering where their next meal would come from.
And for many of them, it came from the wild, or at least a good part of the protein did.
Well, that is happening again, today, and in a strange way.
It was reported this week that the officials of New York City are preparing to feed wild game to the poor of that mega-city.
According to an Associated Press report, geese that have to be removed from New York airport areas for safety reasons, and which are then humanely gassed, will no longer the disposed of in landfills.
“New York City plans to send geese captured around its airports to a slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania, where the high-protein, free-range meat will be sent to food banks.
“The decision by the city Department of Environmental Protection was made following criticism that the gassed geese were dumped into landfills.”
The city wants to “enhance public safety but also help those in need.”
Getting rid of the geese isn’t something the air safety officials took on lightly, it was added.
“Goose eradication was authorized after U.S. Airways Flight 1549 made a miraculous landing in the Hudson River in 2009 after geese were caught in its engines. The agency says that next year the meat will probably be fed to needy New Yorkers.”
Great.
As the saying goes: “kill two birds with one stone.”
Or, more precisely, kill one bird for two reasons.
The needy will certainly appreciate the protein.
— Chuck Smith