More Details About The Mass Murder Of Sikes Lake Geese

 A couple days ago I blogged about the Mass Execution Of Sikes Lake Geese By MSU & Texas Wildlife Services.

At time I knew only a few details about the Goose Executions. I now know a lot more.

From one local news source I learned many locals are not okay with the goose mass murders...

Rumors of the removal of the geese from Sikes Lake began circulating on social media prior to Monday, June 19, leading to overwhelming backlash from many community members.

Many residents of Wichita Falls continue to express outrage and sadness over the decision to remove and euthanize almost all of the geese at Sikes Lake, and our newsroom continues to field questions from viewers and outraged comments on social media.

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334 geese were killed.

The flock of geese was concentrated using something called "funnel nets" directing the birds into a trailer. Carbon dioxide was then pumped into the trailer, killing the geese.

I do not know what was done with the 334 dead geese. I also do not know when this mass execution took place, as in what time of the day. There are always people at Sikes Lake during the day. How is it not photos have shown up of this happening?

Since the original story about this appeared in the Wichita Falls Times Record News, with that article saying the reason for killing all thoses geese was due to the damage they were doing to the MSU campus. This was said without explaining what that damage was.

Subsequent articles in other local news sources have elaborated on what the geese were doing that was so damaging. Such as grazing on lake side vegetation which supposedly destroyed ground cover, leading to erosion and siltation.

I have walked around Sikes Lakes many times over the years and have seen zero evidence of ground cover destruction.

Also, it is claimed that goose poop contains a high level of salmonella, which presented a danger to kids who came in contact with it.

It is also now claimed that a lake with a high population of birds can cause a botulism outbreak.

The plan to keep the Sikes Lake goose population under control seems a tad bizarre. Apparently something called an "egg-addling" program is going to be implemented.

To addle an egg means you cover a fertilized egg with vegetable oil. This cuts off the oxygen supply to the goose waiting to hatch. The mama goose then continues to sit on the egg, which will never hatch. As long as the mama goose is sitting on some eggs, she won't lay any new eggs.

This really makes little sense to me. How long does the poor mama goose sit on those eggs, waiting for them to hatch? And how are the egg nests found? I have never seen a nesting goose at Sikes Lake. I have seen dozens upon dozens of newly hatched goslings, but never a nest.

That photo at the top I took months ago. Two ladies were creating a goose frenzy, feeding the goose flock birdseed. I talked to the two ladies. They daily delivered birdseed to the Sikes Lake geese. The geese recognized the lady's vehicle upon arrival causing the flock to flock towards the vehicle. 

The lady in the photo, surrounded by geese, told me she had rescued an injured goose a couple days prior. Had taken the goose to a veterinarian, who was fixing the injured bird. The lady was getting the goose later that day to return it to the lake.

I suspect those two birdseed feeding ladies are among the many upset about the execution of 334 Sikes Lake geese...

Texas Today Starts A Prolonged And Extreme Heat Wave

Apparently my location on the planet is under a Heat Advisory from June 24, which is today, the final Saturday of June, til August 7.

That is a lot of way too HOT days.

Today the Heat Index will have 104 degrees feeling like 107 degrees.

107 degrees will have me not feeling like being outside.

I do not recollect previously seeing a warning like the one in today's weather forecast, "Hotter with plenty of sunshine, breezy this afternoon; start of a prolonged and extreme heat wave."

Yeah, a heat wave lasting from today til August 7 seems legit to describe as a prolonged and extreme heat wave.

We are being asked to try and cut back on electricity use.

I hope the Texas grid does not melt down...

Friday Severe Thunderstorm Watch In Wichita Falls

In yoga mode, listening to the radio, minutes ago the Emergency Warning noise interrupted with a Severe Thunderstorm warning, with strong wind, half dollar size hail, tornado potential, flash flooding. The warning advised those in the affected area to get to a ground level location, away from windows.

I stopped with the yoga and woke up my computer to see the Severe Thunderstorm Watch warning you see above.

So far, just a little rain, distant thunder booms, dark clouds, little wind.

I am one level above ground level, currently, and near a window...

Happy Nephew David 8th Grade Graduation Day

Incoming email last night with the above photo and a video, with the only text saying "8th Grade Graduation Today".

The who is it from part of the email said "Slotemaker". This caused me to wonder is this about Spencer Jack graduating 8th grade. Then I remembered that Spencer Jack was already in high school. 

Clicking on the photo still left me a bit confused. Then I watched the video, to see and hear an announcer announce "David Slotemaker".

I cropped the photo for a closer look at my Favorite Nephew David. Here is the original, uncropped...

I have zero memory of my own 8th grade graduation. I only barely remember high school graduation. 

I assume David's brother and sister, Theo and Ruby, attended this event, but I have no photo evidence of this...

Mass Execution Of Sikes Lake Geese By MSU & Texas Wildlife Services

 On Sunday I walked around Sikes Lake, afterwards blogging Breezy Balmy Sikes Lake Father's Day Walk With Ducks in which I made mention of the fact that I'd never seen so few geese at this location. As in I only saw four geese that day.

This morning, via the Wichita Falls Times Record News I learned why I saw so few geese on Sunday.

A mass execution extermination euthanizing of the Sikes Lake goose population.

Here are four explanatory paragraphs from the article in the Times Record News...

MSU Texas confirmed Tuesday that the majority of Canada geese have been removed from Sikes Lake in an effort to better maintain the lake and curb overpopulation concerns. MSU contracted with the United States Department of Agriculture - Texas Wildlife Services to complete the removal. Relocation was not a viable option because Canadian geese typically return to their previous home after being relocated. Because of this, TWS euthanized the geese. 

In a statement, MSU marketing and public information director Julie Gaynor said the university explored options and settled on working with the USDA.

“Over the past year, Midwestern State University has been exploring how best to manage the overpopulation of Canada Geese in and around Sikes Lake. The overpopulation of geese has created extensive damage across the campus.

One of the largest concerns Gaynor said the removal addressed was worries about overpopulation and the diseases that can spread among wildlife populations when that happens. Gaynor said there are about 50 Sikes Lake geese remaining.

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About 50 geese remain? All but four must have gone into hiding due to witnessing the capture of most of their relatives.

The geese created extensive damage across the campus? Like what? The only visible damage, if you can call it that, was way too much goose poop on the paved trail around the lake.

It would have been interesting to eye witness the capture of all those geese. How was this accomplished one cannot help but wonder? The geese waddled quickly when a human got too close. Or took flight. The goose flock spent a lot of their time floating on the lake. How were those floating geese arrested?

I likely will never know the answer to these probing questions...

Another Scorching HOT Texas Pre-Summer Day In June

 Another scorcher, as you can see via the screenshot from my phone.

During the time frame I am usually outside engaging in some aerobic activity the temperature is 93, with the lack of wind and humidity making those 93 degrees feel like 104.

The air conditioner in my interior space is keeping me cool at 77 degrees.

When I was a Washingtonian 77 degrees seemed HOT to me, not cool. And temperatures in the 80s seemed Super HOT.

I remember way back in 2006 flying out of Texas in late July, with the Texas temperature being well above 100. I landed in Seattle with the temperature in the 70s. It felt so cold.

Summer arrives tomorrow...

Blisteringly HOT Juneteenth In Texas

I think I will be limiting my outdoor exposure on this next to last Monday of June.

Also known as Juneteenth.

103 degrees today, with the humidity making it really feel like 107 degrees. 

Not a strong enough wind to make for a chilling wind chill factor to make those 103 feel cooler.

Methinks this coming summer is going to be way too HOT...

Breezy Balmy Sikes Lake Father's Day Walk With Ducks

On this balmy next to last Sunday of June, also known as Father's Day, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured for a breezy walk around the lake.

The temperature in the 80s, an hour before noon. I do not know what the wind chill made those 80 degrees feel like, other than quite pleasant.

As you can see a clear blue sky has returned to my Texas location. However, in the middle of the night, last night, rain poured down for about a half an hour, along with multiple, close by, loud, lightning strikes.

I only saw four geese today at Sikes Lake. I have never seen so few geese in this location. The geese population norm is dozens upon dozens of geese.

Whatever chased off the Sikes Lake geese did not scare off the Sikes Lake ducks. Such as the large duck flock you see resting under the shade of a tree.

The weather menu has us scheduled to be above 100 degrees starting tomorrow. I likely will be curtailing my outdoor activities...

Sunny Saturday At Lucy Park With Jungle Sunflowers

It was back to Lucy Park I ventured on the third Saturday of June. With the temperature in the low 80s, with a strong wind blowing, conditions were excellent for a mighty pleasant communing with nature in the Lucy Park backwoods jungle.

That sunny flower you see here is known as a sunflower. Growing in the wild. A wild sunflower.

We had a little storm action, two early evenings ago. A little rain, some hail and a few thunder booms. But not enough precipitation precipitated to turn the Lucy Park backwoods jungle trail into a muddy mess. 

Currently the Lucy Park backwoods jungle trail is as dry as a desert.

Storm action is on the weather menu for later today. Rain, thunderstorms, hail, along with conditions that can create a tornado...

In Leavenworth Tumwater Twisting On Washington's First Alpine Coaster

 A year ago, this month, my nephew, Jason and his eldest, Spencer Jack, visited Leavenworth where they learned of a new addition to the Leavenworth landscape, under construction.

I blogged about this in Leavenworth Adventure Park Tumwater Twister.

Well, the Leavenworth Adventure Park is now open. And it looks fun. The above is a screen cap from a Seattle TV news story about Washington's First Alpine Coaster.

For some reason this Google Blogger app is not working in its usual way of allowing the embedding of a video. You can click Washington's First Alpine Coaster and that will take you directly to the YouTube video that I can not embed.

Leavenworth is my favorite of Washington's themed tourist towns. Leavenworth is Bavarian themed.

This came about way back in the 1960s when Leavenworth became a dying town due to a slowdown of the logging industry. So, the town decided something major had to be done, or the town would become a ghost town. 

It was decided to turn Leavenworth into an Alpine Bavarian themed town. The main street was converted to a new Bavarian look. Soon that look spread all over town. And Leavenworth became a boom town, a HUGE tourist attraction, year round. 

You can go to the Leavenworth Adventure Park website for a good look at this new Leavenworth attraction.

Leavenworth is a year round attraction. In summer it can be quite crowded.

I recollect being in Leavenworth in winter and having a mighty fine time cross country skiing trails in the town's park alongside the Wenatchee River.

I have not been to Leavenworth in over 20 years. The last time was in August of 2001. At that point in time Leavenworth was the staging area for fire fighters fighting big wildfires in the Cascade Mountains. I recollect the air was quite smoky.

The Texas town I am currently sitting in, Wichita Falls, should look into building an Alpine Coaster on Mount Wichita.

But, I do not think this town could possibly pull off becoming Bavarian themed. The lack of real mountains would be problematic.

When I was first in Texas, before the new century arrived, we learned of a nearby Texas town that sold itself as a German themed town, due to the fact most of the town's residents were of German descent.

I do not know why we thought Muenster might be a Leavenworth caliber tourist town, but that is what we thought. We were barely past the Muenster city limits sign when we realized Muenster was not anything like Leavenworth. 

When next I am in Washington maybe I'll make it to Leavenworth. I am surprised Jason and Spencer Jack have not yet made it there to ride the Tumwater Twister...