This year officials have bowed to pressure and decided to turn the city's geese into dinner rather than trash, by sending them to Pennsylvania's food banks.

The mass culls were authorised after a flock flew into U.S. Airways Flight 1549, forcing its pilot to perform a miraculous emergency landing in the Hudson River.

They caused an outcry across the city, particularly in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where 368 geese were gassed with carbon dioxide.

The birds were left to rot in landfill - wasting tons of perfectly edible meat.

Campaigners fought to overturn the assumption Canada geese weren't suitable for eating, arguing they produce tasty, high-protein meat.