Although the San Francisco Botanical Gardens are a treasure, they have recently installed loudspeakers near the fountain that project the terrified screams of Canada Geese being hunted … and gunshots… every 10 minutes.

This is an absurd violation of the spirit, purpose and peacefulness of this important landmark and is at once idiotic, extremely disturbing, and horrifying to people who care about animals.

It also frightens people; even if they are not consciously aware of the stimuli — because we, too, are animals, and can subconsciously sense the presence of danger or killing when it is announced on loudspeakers that can be heard as far as half a mile away.

Additionally, it is useless, because the geese that populate the gardens through some seasons of the year are not wild; they are well-used to noises in the city, and are almost entirely oblivious to the blasting recordings of hunted animals. In fact, over the past few days, I have noticed geese actually »sleeping within 20 feet of the loudspeakers.

While the gardens themselves are amazing, this recent addition is vicious and useless… it is a violation of trust and public space, and I encourage everyone to file a written complaint at the entrance booths (they supply complaint forms) and send a letter of complaint demanding the removal of the loudspeakers to Brendan Lange, Director of Visitor Experience and Marketing (blange (at) sfbg (dot) org) as well as Sue Ann Schiff, Executive Director (sschiff (at) sfbg (dot) org).