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Community Corner

$1,000 Reward Offered After Goose Shot With Arrow

Canada goose shot in Noyac, Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says.

Update Monday 5:15 p.m. - The Suffolk County SPCA now says that it is legal to bowhunt geese in New York, but the reward still stands if the shooter turns out to have broken different hunting regulations. Learn more by clicking here.

Update Monday 10:40 a.m. - A Canada goose impaled by an arrow was seen in Noyac, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Sunday, and now a $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said that the goose could not be captured, because whenever the woman who reported the injured bird got too close, it flew away. She was, however, able to get close enough to take photographs of the black arrow with red and yellow vanes sticking all the way through the goose.

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Gross said that the arrow must have missed vital organs — otherwise the bird would be dead. “It's still walking, it's still eating, but I’m sure the goose is suffering in a lot of pain ...” he said Monday. “It will get infected and eventually die."

While geese are in season for hunters on the East End, bow hunting of Canada geese is never permitted, Gross said. Also, the arrow used to shoot to goose had a field tip, designed for target shooting, rather than a broad tip, designed for hunting, he pointed out. He explained that a broad tip would have killed the goose immediately, rather than subjecting it to prolonged suffering. “It’s a horrible act of animal cruelty,” he said.

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Gross believes that the goose must have been shot near where it was seen, saying that it could not have traveled a great distance with the arrow in it. “There are geese that apparently hang around there and people fed them so they aren’t afraid of people, and someone was able to get close enough to shoot it,” he said.

He is asking anyone with information to come forward by calling 631-382-7722.

"All calls will be kept confidential," Gross said. “We do not give the informants' name up.”

To capture the goose so it can get veterinary care, the Gross is asking that someone with a projectile net device offer to lend it to Suffolk County SPCA.

In October, a Peking duck with an arrow through its neck was discovered in Patchogue, and in July 2011 a swan shot with an arrow was found near Indian Island County Park in Riverhead.

Original:

A Canada goose impaled by an arrow was found in Noyac, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Sunday, and now a $1,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter.

The goose was seen near Sag Harbor Cove across from Long Beach Road, according to Suffolk County SPCA.

Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said he is asking anyone with information on the act of cruelty to come forward by calling 631-382-7722. 

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Canada geese are protected by federal and state laws and regulations, and it is illegal to hunt or kill Canada geese except as permitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DEC.


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