Environment

Fight Against Canada Geese Turns deadly

by woodpeck | February 24, 2009 at 11:45 am

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The war against Canada geese has gotten lethal. To counter heavy bird droppings on public property and other goose-related dilemmas, Brockton and Raynham have begun killing the birds.

In Brockton late last year, federal workers euthanized 46 Canada geese at D.W. Field Park, which has one of the largest breeding populations in the state, a federal spokeswoman said.

The geese were caught and killed with carbon dioxide.

The measure was the last resort to solve a problem that has plagued Brockton for years, one official said last week.

“Go up on the golf course. You have to play hopscotch without stepping in the dung,” said John Dorgan, the city’s superintendent of parks and recreation. “I’m telling you, it’s brutal.”

There is a website here to encourage alternatives to killing the geese.

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Rachel Nixon

at 12:31 on February 24th, 2009

Are there not other ways of keeping the goose population down without resorting to killing them? What about contraception - I'm sure that's been done before.

I find it unfortunate that the city's superintendent is quoted talking about the damage to the golf course - makes it sound like it's just a bunch of well-to-do people complaining.

Karenke4

at 12:36 on February 24th, 2009

I know this is a problem for the Boston area but why not employ goose chasing dogs? I was staying in the Fens once and witnessed a very strange remote controlled goose scaring device. It made weird noises, but kept the geese off of the public fields. These seem like better options than killing the poor birds.

Amy Judd

at 12:57 on February 24th, 2009

I am sure there is another alternative to killing them - I know that their droppings can be a problem but I'm sure some other arrangement can be made.

John Doe (not verified)

at 04:50 on February 25th, 2009

By feeding geese and changing natural surroundings into goose-friendly parks, humans have created a problem (goose population explosion). Humans are responsible for fixing it (reducing the goose population). If sterilizing geese were cost-effective, I would be for it, but what I've heard about sterilizing non-native swans, it is prohibitively expensive (I think it was over $1K per bird).

If there was a national goose shortage, I would be the first to complain. But as it stands, I see nothing wrong with humanely killing these geese. Hunters have been quietly employed by conservation lands for years to keep various populations (mostly deer) in check. Too many geese means they are encroaching on the habitat of other native species both inside and outside the parks.

Adling eggs and stopping people from feeding adults may be the most effective long-term measures simply because adling is quicker and easier than killing adults. The approaches taken by GeesePeace (linked at the bottom of the article above) seem very sensible and humane to me (not to mention fun for the dog).