Please help save these geese - Topeka KS

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Update: I posted this in hopes that somebody would come forward in order to help. What also happened is that some came forward in a display much like Hitler’s army. I came to realize how easy it was for Hitler to carry out his plan! Convince people something is a problem and they will kill (or allow killing) and torture anyone or anything, and also feel justified in doing so! I am amazed at the number of people that would do just as Hitler’s army did -believe his lies and agree to place innocent lives in a gas chamber. Even the babies. Same thing with the geese. What life does it stop with?

I hope I can post this here! The geese at Lake Shawnee in Topeka Kansas are going to be killed because they poop, and for no other reason. This is scheduled to take place sometime between now and the end of July when the geese are helpless because they are molting and cannot fly. In defense of animals is putting out a media release, but we don’t know if it will go out in time. The park manager lied to all of the constituents as well as the media, and told them that the geese are being relocated. There is no program to relocate geese! They contract is with the USDA who only kills them. At this lake, there are hundreds of innocent geese they are going to kill inhumanely in gas chambers. If you can help, please contact me as soon as possible, or contact Dawn at Save The Geese Bloomsburg (Facebook page). I live in Pennsylvania and it is very hard to do much. I will be happy to explain how I found out this is happening there, but I just want to get the word out as soon as possible and see if we can get a contact person that will help. I have tried to post about the geese slaughter before, but accidentally linked to a site that I didn’t know asked for donations. The Facebook page I referenced does not ask for any money. It talks about The Geese we barely managed to save this year in Bloomsburg, but anyone that can help can get all the information they need or can contact Dawn who will get you in touch with experts that can help in that town. They have to have a contact person though! Just one person, please!

 

[Goosebaby]

I wish I could help, but I’m all the way in California.

This disgusts me, the geese are native, that is their habitat. What right do we have to keep building around their habitat and then kill them when we decide that their presence is a nuisance?
For the life of me I can’t understand human logic, where I live it’s fairly rural, we used to have wildlife, but people have been moving up from the cities because they want the country life, but then they clear their land so that it looks like a golf course and kill the wildlife because it’s too dangerous or annoying for them.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I don't want to start a conflict, but just to inform readers about the flip-side of this issue.

I happen to live about 100 miles from Topeka, well within the migratory bird flyway of the Great Plains. The wild geese in question are "resident geese" - they don't migrate, but instead live year-round at one or a few locations. They attract migratory geese, as well, during season. According to the Kansas State Wildlife Dept., current populations of Canada geese are at or well above objective levels in spite of loosened hunting restrictions, extended hunting seasons, oiling eggs, relocating, and other failed measures taken over the past few years to control populations.

I am familiar with the complaints of residents in our area of geese who take over their ponds and property - polluting the water bodies, aggression towards children and pets, destruction of fish and bird habitat, and so on. They poop a LOT. 1-2 pounds per DAY. Do the math: Just 100 geese can produce 3,000-6,000 pounds in a month. That's 18-36 TONS of POOP per year. (I don't know reliably how many geese are at Lake Shawnee.)

Excessive poop is a health and public safety problem. Geese feces can carry salmonella, E.coli, and listeria. The concentration of nitrogen pollutes ponds and lakes, leading to blue-green algae growth - which destroys habitat for fish and amphibians. Over-grazing destroys banks, causing erosion. I'm also concerned about the spread of bird flu - to the many species of migratory birds which use the flyway, or visa-versa. Relocation just moves the problem to somewhere else - it doesn't eliminate it.

If you have not lived near a body of water with an overabundance of resident geese, you just cannot understand what a problem they can be.

Stepping off my soapbox now. Carry on.....

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I wish I could help, but I’m all the way in California.

This disgusts me, the geese are native, that is their habitat. What right do we have to keep building around their habitat and then kill them when we decide that their presence is a nuisance?
For the life of me I can’t understand human logic, where I live it’s fairly rural, we used to have wildlife, but people have been moving up from the cities because they want the country life, but then they clear their land so that it looks like a golf course and kill the wildlife because it’s too dangerous or annoying for them.

This particular lake is man-made, in 1935 by the WPA.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I wish I could help, but I’m all the way in California.

This disgusts me, the geese are native, that is their habitat. What right do we have to keep building around their habitat and then kill them when we decide that their presence is a nuisance?
For the life of me I can’t understand human logic, where I live it’s fairly rural, we used to have wildlife, but people have been moving up from the cities because they want the country life, but then they clear their land so that it looks like a golf course and kill the wildlife because it’s too dangerous or annoying for them.

It is happening everywhere. There is a big fight in Foster city CA taking place now. It’s looking like they are not going to win their fight. My sister tells me about it as she assists with the fight to save them, but I can only listen to so much. And it’s not much!

One of our speakers helping to save the lives of our bloomsburg geese had a little saying “What did the goose say to the squirrel? You’re next.”

What animal will they stop with?

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I don't want to start a conflict, but just to inform readers about the flip-side of this issue.

I happen to live about 100 miles from Topeka, well within the migratory bird flyway of the Great Plains. The wild geese in question are "resident geese" - they don't migrate, but instead live year-round at one or a few locations. They attract migratory geese, as well, during season. According to the Kansas State Wildlife Dept., current populations of Canada geese are at or well above objective levels in spite of loosened hunting restrictions, extended hunting seasons, oiling eggs, relocating, and other failed measures taken over the past few years to control populations.

I am familiar with the complaints of residents in our area of geese who take over their ponds and property - polluting the water bodies, aggression towards children and pets, destruction of fish and bird habitat, and so on. They poop a LOT. 1-2 pounds per DAY. Do the math: Just 100 geese can produce 3,000-6,000 pounds in a month. That's 18-36 TONS of POOP per year. (I don't know reliably how many geese are at Lake Shawnee.)

Excessive poop is a health and public safety problem. Geese feces can carry salmonella, E.coli, and listeria. The concentration of nitrogen pollutes ponds and lakes, leading to blue-green algae growth - which destroys habitat for fish and amphibians. Over-grazing destroys banks, causing erosion. I'm also concerned about the spread of bird flu - to the many species of migratory birds which use the flyway, or visa-versa. Relocation just moves the problem to somewhere else - it doesn't eliminate it.

If you have not lived near a body of water with an overabundance of resident geese, you just cannot understand what a problem they can be.

Stepping off my soapbox now. Carry on.....

Perhaps you should kill every songbird since they poop on cars and sidewalks, build their nests in unwanted places, and are the main carriers of avian flu! It is a complete fallacy that goose poop is dangerous. A lie created so people will believe as you do. Dogs poop everywhere and many owners do not clean it up. It carries more E. coli, filth, and disease than most animals. One dog poop not picked up is 100 times more offensive than what 100 geese can do.

Did you read about HOW they kill them before you commented? Gas chambers in which their bodies do not succumb easily too. They suffer for up to 45 minutes before they die. So if you intend to be on the side of the goose killers, just make sure you know what you are defending.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

This particular lake is man-made, in 1935 by the WPA.

There are so many ways to keep Geese from congregating! There are experts that charge less than a quarter the amount the USDA charges to kill them. They will come out and do a complete evaluation of the area and assist with discouraging the Geese in those areas. They have great success! Killing them has been known to do absolutely nothing whatsoever. The locations are re-inhabited by geese sometimes even in the same year. Killing these poor innocent creatures should never be an option. No one would ever suggest that a person that doesn’t clean up after the dog should have their dog killed. That would be appalling! Killing these geese is just as appalling. They mate for life and they mourn terribly over there lost mates. The USDA doesn’t kill them all, only half, and I’m pretty sure they don’t check with them to make sure they kill all of the families together. They kill the babies born that year as well, they are somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks old. Imagine the goose who’s mate and all of their babies are killed and they are left alone!

 

[Shevraeth]

I can sympathize with your position, but this likely isn't going to have a happy ending. They've tried oiling eggs for the past few years, but the resident goose population has gone from like 300 to over 1000 in just 2ish? years. I don't like the sound of a gas chamber type thing, but the numbers are increasing too fast. The biggest thing is that people keep feeding the geese so they stick around, so if we relocate them, they'll just come back when they can fly because that lake is where easy food is. I kinda like the assholes, but I can see why the city wants to do something about it.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I can sympathize with your position, but this likely isn't going to have a happy ending. They've tried oiling eggs for the past few years, but the resident goose population has gone from like 300 to over 1000 in just 2ish? years. I don't like the sound of a gas chamber type thing, but the numbers are increasing too fast. The biggest thing is that people keep feeding the geese so they stick around, so if we relocate them, they'll just come back when they can fly because that lake is where easy food is. I kinda like the assholes, but I can see why the city wants to do something about it.

The killing doesn’t even work though. We have most most of the information from the town committee regarding their past kills (Which they lie about). They continue to kill them over and over again and it does not stop them from coming. I would have to get the exact numbers for you, but I am quite certain they killed them in 2019 and 2021 and now they are planning to do another massive kill. As soon as they kill them, new ones come in. The only thing it does is put a lot of money in the USDA’s pocket.

You are absolutely right, feeding the geese IS the problem! And I am absolutely right, killing them IS NOT the answer! Have they properly educated the lake visitors about not feeding the geese? There are so so many solutions, most all of them more effective than killing

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Perhaps you should kill every songbird since they poop on cars and sidewalks, build their nests in unwanted places, and are the main carriers of avian flu! It is a complete fallacy that goose poop is dangerous. A lie created so people will believe as you do. Dogs poop everywhere and many owners do not clean it up. It carries more E. coli, filth, and disease than most animals. One dog poop not picked up is 100 times more offensive than what 100 geese can do.

Did you read about HOW they kill them before you commented? Gas chambers in which their bodies do not succumb easily too. They suffer for up to 45 minutes before they die. So if you intend to be on the side of the goose killers, just make sure you know what you are defending.

I really am interested in what other effective options you know about. Relocating doesn't work, they just come back - and that's only giving the problem to someone else. (Reminds me of a work acquaintance who told me where she relocated 6 raccoons after trapping them in her yard. She dropped them off in a wooded creek 30 miles away from her home. I asked for details. It was 1/2 mile from my house and flock of chickens. LOL. I didn't tell her, but I did suggest a remote uninhabited area for a better habitat.) Anyway... as you said, killing them isn't very effective either, but I think it's because they're overpopulating. What other option is there?

Yes, I DO kill the moles that turn our farmyard into swiss cheese - I don't want broken ankles for myself or the cattle. I DO kill the termites and spiders that threaten to infest our home. I DO kill raccoons that stalk our chickens and rummage through the trash. I DO kill the groundhogs that devastate my garden. I DO kill hawks that carry off my chickens. I DO kill mice in my house and those tearing into everything in our storage barn. I use pesticides to kill garden pests, mites in the coop, and control fly populations on the cattle. If I could get a good shot at a coyote threatening our calves, I'd kill them, too. And I kill cattle, pigs, chickens, turkey, fish, and deer to stock my freezer. If I had geese, they'd be on the list, too. Does that make me a "goose killer"? So be it.

I do sympathize with your opinion and distress. I do. I just don't think you are as informed as you could be about how overpopulation of wildlife can cause damage to the environment and wildlife habitats, and spread of disease among wildlife AND humans. For one example, it's not hard to prove that goose poop (and other animal waste, including cattle) contains high levels of nitrogen. Excess nitrogen in a pond or lake can cause growth of blue-green algae. That algae poisons the water, and is fatal to animals who ingest it.

What would you suggest as a better solution to eliminate the overpopulation of geese in these urban and suburban areas? And please don't say "relocation." I don't want them in my pond, either.