Two birds with one stone: Denver to solve its goose poo problem by killing the birds and giving the meat to needy families
- City park authorities will ‘process’ the surplus population to feed hungry families
- Picnickers complain they can’t find a clean patch of grass to sit on for all the poo
- Other methods, including ‘The Goosinator’, have failed to control the population
- The birds have also destroyed vegetation and got into ‘human-wildlife conflict’
City authorities in Denver plan to solve the problems of hunger and bird mess from too many geese by culling the birds and donating their carcasses to charities.
The ‘unnatural’ population of Canada geese in the city’s parks will be ‘processed’ to feed needy families, deputy executive director of Denver Parks and Recreation Scott Gilmore anounced euphemistically.
Picnickers have been complaining that they can’t find a clean patch of lawn to sit on in the Colorado state capital’s parks for all the goose poo on the grass.
The City of Denver plans to cull the excess Canada goose population in its parks and use their meat to feed needy families (file photo)
‘We get so many complaints about people coming out here with a blanket to sit on the grass, and they cannot sit on the grass because there’s so much goose poop in the parks,’ Gilmore said.
As well as the problem of droppings, the birds have also destroyed vegetation and got into ‘human-wildlife conflict’.
‘For more than 15 years, Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) has implemented various goose management tactics to keep resident populations in parks at appropriate levels,’ city officials said in a statement.
‘However, resident populations continue to grow, resulting in an unnatural number of geese for which Denver parks provide habitat.’
Those failed measures included oiling the geese’s eggs, wildlife repellents, natural barriers to stop geese from nesting and even a remote-controlled water-borne scarecrow dubbed ‘The Goosinator’.
Canada geese are a protected species under US federal law, but Denver park authorities have permission to cull them (file photo)
Canada geese are a protected species under the federal Migratory Bird Act, but the city has gained permission for the cull.
The US Department of Agriculture will help decide if their meat is fit for human consumption.
But not all Denver citizens think it’s a good idea.
‘I think supporting underprivileged people is noble, but killing wild geese to feed those, sounds ridiculous,’ Howard Turk told KCNC-TV.
‘This is a park, people want to be in nature and play, why kill them?’
This file photo shows Canada geese being herded into a corral by South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks employees in Sioux Falls