Good Morning:Recent infestation of geese on campus shows students should not be trusted with animals
Each spring, the Branta Canadensis returns to the Midwest from their long winter and assumes their annual role of mild annoyance. A pair of these creatures, commonly known as the Canada goose, has taken up residence betwixt Old Main and Shirk Hall.
The arrival of the geese is the latest in a series of animal-related events that have led me to an unsettling conclusion. This is that much of our student body absolutely cannot be trusted with any sort of wildlife.
In my three years here at Franklin, I have seen footballs thrown at rabbits, the chasing and eventual “de-tailing” of our squirrels, and now the unnecessary harassment of the pair of geese that have chosen our campus as our home. What is wrong with us?
I understand that the path between the two buildings has become a bit more challenging for people who are trying to make their way to the Welcome Center or home to their respective fraternity houses. In fact, I have to pass by the vacationing fowl up to ten times a day myself.
However, I find it a bit ridiculous when someone who I happen to know is an athlete freezes at the sound of one of the geese hissing at him. It is even more ridiculous when, instead of quickening his pace one iota as to pass by the goose, stops to pick up a twig with which to guard himself from the bird as it takes a single step forward.
Even in this instance the reaction is a bit understandable with a bit of surprise or panic, but I have also seen apples being hurled at these animals when they were far away from the path to be considered an obstacle.
I don’t get it. Maybe it’s because I spent my youth playing outside rather than inside in the air-conditioning, and that when one is outside, they are just probably going to pass by some sort of fauna. But for the love of everything green, what sort of childish impulse is so impossibly repressed that one must go out of their way to launch fruit at a bird? This also applies to footballs thrown at rabbits – don’t think I forgot about that.
If you insist on lobbing projectiles at stationary targets, go play some ski-ball at the arcade. For those who can control yourselves, talk to your peers. It is just really ridiculous a group of college-educated men and women cannot be trusted around even the mildest of the animal kingdom.
