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HEY, GEESE, GET THE FLOCK OUT!

“Round them up – and get rid of them!” Or even kill them if you like.

That’s the sure answer to eliminating the potentially deadly Canada geese that threaten air travel around New York, says wildlife biologist Steve Garber, who once ran the wildlife-mitigation program at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark airports.

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A double-goose hit is suspected of shutting down both engines of the US Airways jet that crash-landed in the Hudson River on Thursday, endangering 155 passengers and crew – all of whom miraculously survived.

The engines of the downed plane, an Airbus A320, are designed to withstand a 4-pound bird passing through the turbines, according to a spokesman for the manufacturer.

But Canada geese can grow to more than three times that size.

A hit from a bird that large can shatter the blades inside the engines, triggering serious vibrations that can shake the turbines loose from the wings.

Government data show Canada geese are the biggest avian threat to airplanes and jets, and caused $47.4 million worth of damage to airplanes from 1990 to 2007.

In that period, US pilots reported 1,109 strikes by Canada geese, including 568 that caused serious damage to aircraft – a damage rate of 51 percent.

That’s far more damage than is caused by other birds. Bird strikes by all species – estimated at 80,000 over the same period – damage planes just 11 percent of the time, federal data show.

Garber doubts Port Authority bureaucrats have the courage to eliminate the threat in the face of four international treaties and federal and state laws designed to protect Canada geese and other migratory birds – not to mention the public outcry that results against anything perceived as cruel to wildlife.

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It would be fairly easy for Port Authority workers to round up and net geese in June and July, when they’re molting and unable to fly, Garber said.

Once they’re caught, they could be taken to a new habitat far from the city – or killed for their meat, which could be donated to homeless shelters, he added.

“If you keep on doing that, you will get the whole breeding population,” said Garber. “In a short period of time, you will have fewer breeding birds.”

If that’s not feasible, Garber said, he sees nothing wrong with shooting them, poking holes in their eggs, shaking their eggs so the embryos are destroyed, wrecking their nests, or taking any number of other measures to eradicate the pesky and dangerous geese.

“There are lots of ways,” he said. “You can throw rocks at them. You can hit them with sticks.

“These are things that people don’t like. But, we are talking about geese.”

Port Authority officials say they have an extensive wildlife-management program, which includes shooting and trapping thousands of birds a year, removing shrubs and trees where birds like to nest and pyrotechnics – noisemaking – to scare them off.

At La Guardia – the departure point for the Charlotte, NC-bound flight that crashed – the agency also discourages bird-feeding and cleans up garbage-bin areas where birds look for food. It has also hunted down the birds on nearby Rikers Island.

“Our program has been very effective. Bird strikes have been decreasing as a result of our efforts,” the agency said.

Under state and federal law, airport workers generally can take geese between April 1 and Sept. 15; they can take their eggs or nests between March 1 and June 30.

Port Authority officials say they have permits letting them kill Canada geese year round. But the permits generally apply only to airport grounds, they say.

Killing a Canada goose without a permit can bring a $15,000 fine and up to six months’ imprisonment per bird.

bill.sanderson@nypost.com

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