Geese gone wild
The city will start its goose patrol program in Beacon HIll Park later this month, meaning Canada Geese will have to find a new place to hang out.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
They waddle on wetlands, flock to lakes and leave a big mess behind.
Resident Canada geese are showing up all over the city, but the troublesome birds taking over parks and golf courses shouldn't have been here in the first place.
The federal and provincial governments introduced the geese to various regions of Canada in the 1960s and 1970s to increase their population for hunters said Ann Nightingale, president of Rocky Point Bird Observatory.
Most came from the northern interior of B.C. or eastern Canada.
"They actually clipped their wings and made it so they couldn't fly away so the hunters would have a chance to shoot them," she said
She said the program was successful but it created two groups of birds -- migrating native geese and non-native flocks that don't fly south in the winter.
"The good guys -- the ones who tend to come through in the fall and the spring tend to get the bad rap because of the ones that are here all year round, which are domestic geese gone wild," she said.
The resident population ballooned over the years, outnumbering their migrating cousins who are actually part of the same species.
They gobble up farmer's crops and defecate in public parks and lakes.
It's become a slipping hazard in Beacon Hill park said Todd Stewardson parks manager for the City of Victoria
The city spent $6,500 between August and April on a goose-patrol dog to scare geese out of the park.
The program started with a 2007 pilot project, and will start again in the coming weeks.
But this isn't the only program of its kind.
The CRD applied to the federal government for a license to use border collies to chase geese off public beaches in the evenings.
Last week, the Vancouver Island Health Authority posted warnings at Hamsterly Beach at Elk Lake due to high fecal coliform levels in the water.
Swimmers could contract ear, nose, or stomach illnesses that likely stem from large amounts of goose droppings in the area.
Gorge Vale Golf Club in Esquimalt has the same problem and hired Dynamic Dogs to train volunteer pooches to help out.
All Canada geese are protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, but Nightingale said chasing them around isn't enough
"It's going to be very controversial. There needs to be a program, but part of me says 'no,no, it's not the bird's fault.'"
Resident geese are just one foreign species -- including grey squirrels, American bullfrogs and starlings -- that don't fit in very well here, she said.
lweighton@vicnews.com
v2
