After reading your front-page feature article regarding the plight of our fine-feathered friends in north Lakeport (“Deadly year for geese on Lakeshore,” May 11), I was absolutely appalled with your extreme lack of sensitivity in describing certain of our longtime Lake County residents as being “Canadian” geese.
Just because you may have once visited our neighbor to the north, exhibit abnormal physical features such as a long neck, extensively protruding mandible, beautifully colored plumage and orange-colored, webbed feet, does not necessarily dictate you be labeled “Canadian.” To do so would be tantamount to labeling an eccentric gentleman a “geezer,” an elderly matron a “hag” or, heaven forbid, a Kelseyville High School student an “Indian.” It is my sincere hope that this inflammatory article does not trigger an international incident.
Hailing from such a progressive, forward thinking, politically correct county such as ours where civilized members of society show due respect and sensitivity for our neighbors and the other inhabitants of our cherished land by not referring to them with demeaning labels such as “geezers,” “hags” and “Indians,” you would think our local newspaper could get it right. A Canadian is not a goose. S/he is a citizen of Canada, our neighbor to the north and the second largest country (in land mass) in the world. A goose lacks any national ethnic persuasion.
A Canada goose on the other hand, sometimes affectionately referred to as a “honker,” is a common species of waterfowl (Branta canadensis) indigenous to North America, marked with grayish plumage, a black neck and head, and a white throat patch. A fully-grown adult male (a “gander”) can weigh up to 30 pounds. Most Canadians that I”ve met do not fit this description.
When was the last time you encountered a cackling-gaggle of Canadians? Come on folks … give the birds a break!
Mark McDougal
Lakeport
