Wednesday 24 August 2016

Goosebump



"Dr. Thomas Edge says it is very difficult to tell for sure if E. coli at a beach is caused by geese or not."
Also "... geese usually drop droppings on the sand along the waterline ..."
                                                               Nelson Star, Aug. 24, 2016

Which they, ducks and gulls do copiously - have been doing for many years - along the waterline of the Lakeside Park beach. Usually at night, while resting there. Meaning: they then move little - and stuff piles-up!
Do geese dream?

















As we don't seem to have markedly more geese now than in previous years - provided E. coli testing is done using the exact same methods under the exact same conditions in the exact same locations - the question needing to be asked is: if geese are the source - what caused the sudden change to their innards at this particular time? In relation to last year when - ostensibly! - conditions and process were the same. And we didn't have this spike!

It seems improbable that an E. coli spike materializes out of nowhere - in one specific location yet - without a specific contaminator. And if human participation is eliminated - how difficult can this be to figure out?




This observant non-scientist is in the park very early most mornings - the experts are neither nor.

Droppings along the waterline usually disappear soon after beachers arrive with kids: splashing/running about. Rain and wavelets will cause the same. So - obviously a sizeable amount of (dispersed) droppings stays in sluggish shallows close to the shore - what with the process repeating daily as long as weather/water-conditions don't change drastically.
Is that where testing takes place, Erin Brockovich? Also comparing year-to-year population-numbers, movement- and feeding-patterns? Which we probably don't because we don't have them?

Once (and for all) determined that geese indeed are the culprits: why not just get a City worker to pooper-scoop the contaminants along the shoreline every morning!
10 minutes!
Done!
  



















In the meantime - we're left uncomfortably informed of seemingly spotty-dodgy field- and lab-work. Everybody's guessing! Or generalizing: Dr. Edge is not local.
How about the old scientific comparison/elimination/isolation-thing!

And while you're at it - how about making feeding of all waterfowl illegal - with stiff fines attached!



"Do something about it!"





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1 comment:

  1. Living temporarily in Australia, what I like about this country, they WOULD be doing something about it. A great country, helpful people, an organized ordered society, and no idiots allowed, or there ARE consequences.

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