Help Save The North Park Geese!

[pratt]

URGENT: HELP SAVE NORTH PARK GEESE!

Allegheny County Parks Department currently has plans to round up the Canada geese who live in North Park sometime late this summer when they are molting and are unable to fly, and gas them, or kill them by some other method. They are doing this in response to complaints about geese feces in the park.


First of all, the geese should be able to stay in the park just as much as any other animal who lives there. Canada geese choosing to take up residence in public parks and suburban and urban areas, instead of migrating, is a direct consequence of their own natural environment being rapidly decimated. Wild animals are struggling to exist as more of the natural area is clearcut and torn down, and replaced with artificial landscapes and manicured lands. Humans need to find a way to peacefully coexist with all wildlife, including Canada geese.
If North Park feels it must remove geese from the park, there are humane, non-lethal methods that are available for doing this that have been proven to be effective, even more so than lethal methods. By killing the geese, the Parks Department is only clearing the space for more geese to move in next year to fill the vacant niche. The only way to effectively and permanently keep the geese away is to make the area uninhabitable or inaccessible to them through a comprehensive organized program, implementing non-lethal alternatives. These alternatives include making the area unwelcoming towards the geese by using forms of habitat modification, using audio devices and scare devices, using repellents, and implementing organized non-feeding programs. An integrated program using a combination of techniques works best and has effectively been used to lower geese populations in different areas. It's important to point out that geese pose absolutely no health hazard to the general public and they are not causing harm to anyone. Many people like seeing the geese and don't find their presence a problem.

Voices for Animals currently has a meeting scheduled on May 24th to meet with the Allegheny County Parks Department to talk about this issue and press for a commitment to a non-lethal geese removal program if one is going to be used. It is important especially right now for everyone to contact the Allegheny County Parks Department and voice your opposition to killing geese in North Park, so that the opposition towards the proposed plan to kill geese is clear before the meeting even starts.
Please call and/or email Andrew Baechle, Director of the Allegheny County Parks Department, and voice your opposition to slaughtering the geese in North Park:
Andrew Baechle: 412-350-7275
Andrew.Baechle@county.allegheny.pa.us
You can also write Mr. Baechle at the following address:
Andrew Baechle, Director
Parks Department
County Office Building
542 Forbes Ave., Rm. 211
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
For more information about this issue and non-lethal methods for removing geese visit www.canadageese.org and www.geesepeace.org
Thank you for taking action to help animals!

[brungeman]

sorry,

I had a dog catch a nasty infection that was caused by coming into contact with the goose droppings!

the writer of the above plea while not exactly wrong in their statements, is not exactly correct either...

the geese have taken up residence here because of lack of threat, and the fact that people in the parks feed them... which encourages them to stay... I think it is fantastic to see geese flying into our parks, and swimming around on our local waters WHILE THEY ARE MIGRATING! The birds have lost their migratory nature.

I donate to several wildlife funds including some that preserve habitat for waterfowl. I know both sides of the argument pretty well...

you can spin the argument any which direction you want, but I would rather not on a summer day walk through a load of goose droppings (one of the grosser droppings out there) to get to the lake!

[pratt]

let's say for arguments sake...yes they are a problem....
I don't think killing them is the correct solution.

[abbydbum]

Why don't they catch em & have a cook-off.(best cooked goose)ha-ha...charge admission,,,,give it to animal friends,,,or lower property taxes free range geese anyone??

[brungeman]

let's say for arguments sake...yes they are a problem....
I don't think killing them is the correct solution.

their instinct is to migrate... these geese have been reprogrammed to stay here by the idiots constantly feeding them over at marshal lake (or what ever they are calling the duck pond area)... they have lost the instinct to migrate... they will be a nuisance anywhere they are. They are now basically defective. They can not be reprogrammed... the problem has been going on long enough that some of the geese are now second and third gen. park geese!

I have read several articles in very similar situations, where the researchers tried with no success to rescue the birds and get them to start to migrate again.

so what do you suggest?

[pratt]

what happens when geese show up after these are removed? do we just keep killing them?
Yea let's bring in new ones, feed them, raise them, make them part of the nice scenery then kill them too.

Maybe if their feces is the real problem, figure out a way to clean it up. I mean come on, if you put your dog in the backyard for 2 years and never cleaned up after him, would you kill him because you couldn't stand stepping in his crap all the time?

[brungeman]

what happens when geese show up after these are removed? do we just keep killing them?
Yea let's bring in new ones, feed them, raise them, make them part of the nice scenery then kill them too.

Maybe if their feces is the real problem, figure out a way to clean it up. I mean come on, if you put your dog in the backyard for 2 years and never cleaned up after him, would you kill him because you couldn't stand stepping in his crap all the time?

#1 post threats such as fines to people who feed the geese! THEN ENFORCE IT!

#2 Allow the geese to use our waters as a sanctuary as they pass on their migration... several towns hold festivals based on the migration of the birds! They are much more interesting, majestic, and exciting to see if they are only here a few weeks out of the year!


if you have ever been around them you know they are eating and sh!tting machines

facts...
• The average Canada goose produces two to four pounds of manure/day (wet weight); one-third pound (dry weight).
• Salmonella bacteria can persist in wet droppings for up to one month.

if my dog pooped that much, and it were as gross and slimy as goose poop, I wouldn't own a dog!

[Indy]

Here's a solution...turn the area around the lake into an off-leash dog run. Maybe a could dumb geese would get caught/killed, but they'd learn quickly that they'd better get a move on. I believe the convent on Babcock has a border collie trained to chase geese away from their pond.

With an area as large as north park, it's not economically feasible to implement the scores of nonlethal deterrent methods to get the geese to move on. Euthanasia is the only economically viable method. Now, the real question is what to do once they're gone. Obviously, you can't assume that the area will stay goose-free, because more will move in, as pratt points out. There needs to be a MAJOR no-feeding crackdown...write some friggen tickets! Re-landscaping some areas would help, but would be very expensive. On a serious note about dogs, encourage people to walk their dogs (leashed) along the lakeshore. Put in a foot-traffic-only path right along the shore where there is space to do so.

[pratt]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 08469.html

[swhile]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/north/s_508469.html

That's great news. I have cursed at the geese many times and just today swerved about 200 times on my bike to avoid the poop, but it really didn't sit well with me when I read they were planning to euthanize them. Kudos to the county.

What about laser pointers that were suggested as a means of home bird control in another thread? Everyone, carry laser pointers with you while biking in NP and shine them in the geese's eyes as you pass. They'll get the message. Super-soakers could also be fun.

[klevens]

Rio LOVES to chase birds!!!!!!!

[kikawhat]

Super soakers work well on ground hogs but I doubt they'd have any effect on water fowl.

To get rid of geese in a park near where I grew up they imported a couple families of swans. evidently swans and geese are natural enemies, and the swans don't reproduce at such an alarming rate, the problem is the geese just moved to another waterway a few miles away.

I personally hate the geese, but that is a different story. Killing a few hundred of them at a time seems extreme. Personally, I stay away from areas with a lot of geese, in my opinion they are nothing but rats with wings.

I am glad to see that the county will try other methods, but I doubt they will have much or any effect. Evidently these geese can live up to 20 years, destroying eggs wont be enough, not to mention that geese are very protective of their young, I know from experience. Trying to get close to a nest will make you want to kill them.

I suppose they could start distributing uncooked rice to people who want to feed them.

[spurk]

Goose population is on the rise all over the place and they dont get messed with at that waterway. hence they stay there all year long. Open up the area to hunting and less geese will stay there or if they open up the early goose season to have more geese killed they will control the population outbreak locally(this is designed to control the loal population and not the migratory population from Canada). The only way to control a population of animals is to kill them. Since they are protected in that area the population will continue to grow and they will be a pain in the ass. If an animal has a natural predator, yes we are natural predators, then the population will stay under control. if the animal has no predator the population will continue to explode. Like it or not that is the way of things.

I agree with what Pratt said gassing geese will only open up the area to more geese so the problem isnt only with that park it is with the goose population in the entire area. I live on a lake where they dont allow hunting. This lake has a major problem with Geese. Since they dont allow controled hunting the geese know it is a sanctuary and continue to stay there....and their numbers keep growing.