Federal agents have imposed a media blackout on nearly every aspect of the continuing roundup of Canada geese, citing a concern for the safety of officers who have been harassed in the past by animal-rights protesters.

But Puget Sound-area protesters, some of whom have been staking out parks, say the secrecy is nothing more than a ploy to keep the public in the dark.

"If it gets on tape and the rest of America saw it, they would not allow the feds to do it," contends Catherine O'Neale, an Olympia animal-rights advocate.

And even the cities that have requested goose kills are keeping their distance from the actual roundups. None wants to be associated with pictures or videos of frantic, trapped and hissing birds, activists say.

"From their perspective, what do they have to gain from media coverage?" asked Roger Woodruff, assistant director in Washington state of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services division. "Politically speaking, these people are up for re-election, and they're pretty sensitive about these things, and we have to respect that."

Even officials who aren't elected are steering clear of the emotionally volatile issue.

A spokesman for the state Department of General Administration, which operates parks near the Capitol, said agency leaders "are always worried about adverse publicity."

Meanwhile, Wildlife Services is under pressure to step up its campaign to rid the area of more than 3,000 geese in the next three weeks, before the summer molt ends and geese can fly again.

King County, Boeing, the University of Washington, Seattle and at least 12 smaller cities have asked Wildlife Services to destroy geese on their lands or have contributed money toward lethal controls.

The estimated 25,000 resident geese in the Puget Sound region each drop up to 3 pounds of excrement daily. The manure has prompted complaints about the mess at parks and led to sporadic beach closures because of contaminated water.

As goose roundups began this month, some activists vowed to disrupt them if they learned of the roundup sites, putting federal officials on alert. When Wildlife Services nabbed geese for transport to Eastern Washington a few years ago, activists got between agents and the cages.

And some splinter organizations within the animal-rights movement have proved to be even more radical. In 1998, two Wildlife Services buildings near Olympia were burned by arsonists, though the group that claimed responsibility didn't link the vandalism to geese. In Logan, Utah, a grass fire was set recently outside a federal research center while someone cut open a fence to release 20 captured coyotes.

Gary Oldenburg, Wildlife Services' director for Washington state, said he made a judgment call to withhold information about the goose roundups from the media. Starting last week, officials have declined to say how many geese have been taken or what happened to 150 birds that were captured and held alive pending a deal with a food bank. Oldenburg said each published report triggers more media calls, which are overwhelming his small staff.

Secrecy over goose roundups has ruffled feathers among animal-rights groups.

"This fundamentally goes against what this country is all about," said Patricia Lane, attorney for the Humane Society of the United States.

In refusing to answer questions about the goose roundups, Wildlife Services officials cite a recent federal court ruling from Waco, Texas, which shielded the identity of ranchers and farmers participating in a controversial coyote-control program that allowed the use of poisons and traps.

Before the ruling, an animal-rights group obtained the names of the ranchers and posted them on a "Wall of Shame" Web page on the Internet.

But the Sacramento-based Animal Protection Institute contends the Texas ruling restricts the public's right to audit activities on public lands.

Locally, requests by The Seattle Times to witness a goose roundup have been denied by Wildlife Services. In rejecting the requests, federal officials initially cited the Texas court ruling, in effect suggesting that cities that wanted to round up geese should be shielded. But when Renton Mayor Jesse Tanner asked that the The Times be granted access to a roundup in his city, the agency replied that if a journalist showed up, agents would abort the raid.

Long before the goose roundups were sought, public hearings were held on controlling the population of Canada geese. It was argued that nonlethal goose controls such as bird-chasing dogs, egg-addling and annoying reflective strips had been tried since 1987 without much success, and the goose population was fast multiplying.

The interest and passion over the urban goose roundups baffles Woodruff, the Wildlife Services' assistant state director.

"Hunters take 60,000 geese in this state every year," he said. "It's not even a news item."

Mike Lindblom's phone message number is 206-515-5631.