When they came for the geese, she said nothing.
Prospect Park’s top administrator Tupper Thomas opposed a federal decision to massacre close to 300 Canada geese in her park this summer, but she chose not to cry fowl because the program was orchestrated by Mayor Bloomberg and federal agencies, a spokesman revealed this week.
“Tupper wasn’t the one who gave permission, but she did know [the feds] were coming,” said the spokesman, Eugene Patron. “As for when and what time and how many geese [would be killed] — she was not in the loop.
“Personally, Tupper was not for the culling,” Patron added.
Thomas, who is retiring at the end of the year from running both the Prospect Park Alliance as well as day-to-day operation of the park for the city, faced a barrage of criticism in her silent response to the goose slaughter in July. Nine days after the operation, the under-fire Thomas finally issued a letter addressing the issue, though one that did little to quiet critics.
“A lot of people were angry about this, and she was silent,” said Tony Chiappelloni, the president of FIDO, a dog walkers advocacy group.
Chiappelloni added that the geese massacre had made Thomas’s final year as the boss of Prospect Park a difficult one.
“Look, she put her heart and soul into that park, she’s done a lot — but we didn’t know what was going on [after the slaughter]! I couldn’t say whether she authorized it or not, I didn’t know, I had no idea!”
Patron said that one of Thomas’s last major decisions before she retires from her job early next year will be to define a new wildlife management plan for the park and present it to the public.
“If successful it could be implemented elsewhere,” said Patron, who added, “I’m sure it’ll be called her ‘swan song.’ ”
