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Canada Geese
(Scientific Name: Branta canadensis)
Canada Geese are everywhere. You have seen them around in their groups
called gaggles. You may have even admired them. But in recent years they have
become a big problem. Golf Courses, beach front property owners and community
parks have been fouled with goose droppings. A Canadian Goose, while a majestic
bird, can deposit about a half a pound of fecal material on your grass each
and every day. The problem of course is how to get rid of them.
If you would like a copy of "Managing Canada Geese in Urban Environments", a
booklet which covers all the available Canada Geese control techniques available visit
books.php
Before proceeding with any goose control operation, you must have this booklet.
Nesting: Canada Geese tend to nest in the New England area around
mid march to early April. At that time they pair up and begin to lay eggs.
Canada Geese Damage
1. Feces can cause people to slip and fall. For elderly people a fall can be
life threatening as broken hips can cause life threatening morbidity. See "N.J.
Bothered By Goose Droppings"By GEOFF MULVIHILL .c The Associated PressMOUNT
LAUREL, N.J. (AP) May 7, 2002.
2. Feces suspected to be involved with high bacteria counts in waterways.
3. Geese can injure people and aircraft.
Canada Geese are protected under the North American Migratory Bird Treaty which
was ratified earlier in this century. Essentially it provides legal protection
of birds that migrate across national borders of Mexico. The treaty allows the
birds to be killed during either a regulated hunting season or when they are
committing property or crop damage.
The trouble is while you might think that you are suffering property damage,
the government requires that non-lethal options be tried first. Only after non-lethal
options have been tried will the government give you a permit for lethal control.
Here is a press release from the Fisheries and Wildlife Service
August 19, 1999
Chris Tollefson 202-208-5634
STUDY TO EXPLORE STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH RESIDENT
CANADA GOOSE POPULATIONS
In an effort to reduce human conflicts with resident Canada goose populations
in urban and suburban communities, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced
today that it has begun to develop a nationwide management strategy for resident
Canada geese.
The Service published a notice in today's Federal Register of its intent to
study ways to control and manage increasing populations of resident Canada geese
that pose a threat to human health or safety, or that cause damage to personal
and public property. An Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared with
the goal of providing states with more management flexibility and authority
to deal with resident Canada goose populations, while establishing criteria
for population goals and objectives, management planning and population monitoring.
"Over the years, the Service has repeatedly taken action to address immediate
problems caused by resident goose populations in our communities. But with populations
continually multiplying across the nation, we recognize that new and innovative
strategies will have to be developed to protect the public and ensure the long-term
health of these waterfowl," said Acting Service Director John Rogers. "Our
goal is to develop a long-term strategy to integrate management of these birds
with other federal and state agency efforts, as well as our existing waterfowl
flyway system."
Most Canada goose populations are migratory, wintering in the southern United
States and migrating north to summer breeding grounds in the Canadian arctic.
But increasing urban and suburban development in the U.S. has resulted in the
creation of ideal goose habitat conditions--park-like open areas with short
grass adjacent to small bodies of water--resulting in growing numbers of locally-breeding
geese that live year round on golf courses, parks, airports and other public
and private property.
In temperate climates across the United States, these placesprovide geese with
relatively stable breeding habitat and low numbers of predators. In addition,
hunting is usually not allowed in urban and suburban areas, restricting the
ability of state and local authorities to control populations using traditional
methods. Those resident populations that do migrate often fly only short distances
compared to their migratory relatives that breed in Canada. For these reasons,
resident Canada goose populations enjoy consistently high reproduction and survival
rates.
In recent years, biologists have documented tremendous increases in populations
of Canada geese that nest predominantly within the United States. Recent surveys
suggest that the Nation's resident breeding population now exceeds 1 million
birds in both the Atlantic and the Mississippi flyways and is continuing to
increase. In the Mississippi Flyway alone, the 1998 spring Canada goose population
estimate exceeded 1.1 million birds, an increase of 21 percent from 1997.
Resident Canada goose populations are increasingly coming into conflict with
human activities in many parts of the country. In parks and other open areas
near water, large goose flocks denude lawns of vegetation and create conflicts
with their droppings and feather litter. Goose droppings in heavy concentrations
can overfertilize lawns, contribute to excessive algae growth in lakes that
can result in fish kills, and potentially contaminate municipal water supplies.
Geese have also been involved in a growing number of aircraft strikes at airports
across the country, resulting in dangerous takeoff and landing conditions and
costly repairs.
For decades, the Service attempted to address the problem by adjusting hunting
season frameworks and issuing control permits on a case-by-case basis. But hunting
restrictions in most urban and suburban communities have limited efforts to
increase the harvest of resident geese, and the Service has been overwhelmed
by requests for control permits. For example, the Service's Midwest region issued
149 permits authorizing resident Canada goose control efforts in 1994, including
trapping and relocation, egg and nest destruction, and take of adults. In 1998,
the region issued 225 permits. All of the Service's regions report similar growth
in the number of requests for permits.
On June 17, the Service created a new special Canada goose permit that gives
state wildlife agencies the opportunity to design their own management programs
and to take actions to control specific resident goose populations without having
to seek a separate permit from the Service for each action. Designed to give
states greater flexibility to respond to specific problems with resident geese,
the new permit should satisfy the need for an efficient short-term management
program until a comprehensive long-term management strategy can be developed
and implemented.
The Service has identified a series of potential alternatives for dealing with
resident Canada goose conflicts that could be evaluated in the EIS. Potential
options include non-lethal methods such as managing habitat to make it less
attractive to geese; harassment, trapping and relocation of birds; as well as
more direct population stabilization and reduction programs. The final set of
alternatives to be analyzed in the EIS will be determined based on comments
received during a public scoping process that began with publication of today's
Federal Register notice.
Public scoping meetings will be held in states experiencing conflicts with
resident goose populations. The location, date and time of those meetings has
not been determined, but will be announced in a future notice in the Federal
Register.The Service encourages public comment on the scope of the EIS. Written
comments should be submitted by October 18, 1999, addressed to the Chief, Office
of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of
the Interior, ms 634 ARLSQ, 1849 C St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20240. For further
information contact the Office of Migratory Bird Management, (703) 358-1714.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible
for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their
habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages
the 93- million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than
500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special
management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and
wildlife management assistance offices and 78 ecological services field stations.
The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species
Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries,
conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign
governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid
program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on
fishing and hunting equipment to state wildlife agencies.
-F W S-
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News releases are also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.fws.gov/r9extaff/pubaff.html
Questions concerning a particular news release or item of information should
be directed to the person listed as the contact. General comments or observations
concerning the content of the information should be directed to Mitch Snow (Mitch_Snow@fws.gov)
in the Office of Public Affairs.
For Canada Geese Control Strategies
If you would like a copy of "Managing Canada Geese in Urban Environments",
a booklet covering all the available Canada Geese control techniques available
visit books.php
For more on controlling Canada Geese click canadageesenonpermit.php
and Canada Geese Permit
Want a Goose Control Professional to do the Work? e-mail
us
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so that we can help you better.
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on resolving human/wildlife conflicts. We welcome suggestions, criticisms to
help us achieve this goal. The information provided is for informational purposes
only and users of the information use it at their own risk. The reader must
consult state/federal officials to determine the legality of any technique in
the reader's locale. Some techniques are dangerous to the user and to others.
WDC encourages readers to obtain appropriate training (see our informational
literature at our Store ), and understand that proper animal damage
control involves patience, understanding that not every technique/method works
for every situation or even 100% of the time. Your use of this information is
governed by this understanding.
We welcome potential users of the information
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9/2/02
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