New Rules For Canada Goose Management

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is making it easier to kill Canada Geese without a permit. Its new rules apply to airports, landowners, and state wildlife officials and are intended to reduce the population of resident geese along the Atlantic Flyway, where the number of geese increases at a rate of about 2 percent per year. Large numbers of resident geese have resulted in safety problems at airports, conflicts with golf courses and other private landowners, and obstacles for habitat restoration.

The new regulatory program consists of three components. The first creates control and depredation orders for airports, landowners, agricultural producers and public health officials that are designed to address resident Canada goose depredation and damage while managing conflict. This component will allow take of resident Canada geese without a federal permit provided certain reporting and monitoring requirements are fulfilled.

The second component consists of expanded hunting methods and opportunities and is designed to increase the sport harvest of resident Canada geese. Under this component, States could choose to expand shooting hours and allow hunters the use of electronic calls and unplugged shotguns during a portion of early September resident Canada goose seasons.

The third component consists of a new regulation authorizing the Director to implement a resident Canada goose population control program, or "management take". Management take is defined as a special management action that is needed to reduce certain wildlife populations when traditional and otherwise authorized management measures are unsuccessful, not feasible, or not applicable in preventing injury to property, agricultural crops, public health, and other interests. Under Management Take, the take of resident Canada geese outside the existing sport hunting seasons (September 1 to March 10) would be authorized and would enable States to authorize a harvest of resident Canada geese between August 1 and August 31. Management take would be available to States in the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Central Flyways following the first full operational year of the other new regulations.

In the DC area, there are between 500 and 600 resident geese living in the Anacostia watershed.

Goosing The Geese Away

H. Jay Spiegel says he has had 50 Canada geese sleep on his dock at night.

"Every morning I'd have to go out there first thing to wash . . . the dock because you don't want it drying up."
Photo Credit: By James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post

Stratford Landing, a lovely neighborhood not far from George Washington's Mount Vernon, has a problem. A geese problem. People feed them, and the geese are so grateful that they stay.

Forever.

They waddle on docks along Little Hunting Creek, into the meticulously groomed back yards that flank the water, and they even wander up to Stockton Parkway, disrupting traffic. They confront people out for daily strolls, honking belligerently for a meal.

One thing about Canada geese: They don't like to be disappointed when it comes to food. They're nasty. They believe in biting the hand that doesn't feed them.

And even worse: These beautiful creatures poop. Frequently. Green poop that turns back yards into fecal nightmares. Canada geese poop production has been estimated to be at least a half-pound a day per goose, so if a flock of three dozen geese while away the afternoon on someone's lawn, or a few hundred congregate -- doing what they do best -- the coverage can be extensive.

But for the geese-plagued residents of Stratford Landing, relief may be on the way. With residents lamenting a decline in their quality of life, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors next week will consider a geese-be-gone ordinance that would prohibit the feeding of geese and ducks along Little Hunting Creek. Anyone who tosses so much as a kernel of corn could face a $50 fine. The ordinance would be enforced by animal control officers. Read More from The Washington Post.

Ganders Away

CHARLIE MEADS/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

Virginia Beach is teaming up with community groups and animal activists, including an unlikely alliance with Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, to help curb the geese population and usher them out of the city and elsewhere.

Tactics include: searching for goose eggs and rendering them unhatchable and scaring the birds from Mount Trashmore's lakes.

Two years ago, the city contracted with the Department of Agriculture to trap and kill or shoot an undetermined number of Canada geese and ducks at Trashmore.

The effort brought protests from residents and animal-rights groups and led to what some hope becomes a model for the rest of the region, thus bringing about the development of the new methods.

* The Virginian-Pilot Story