How do you ease needy, imprinted goslings into staying outside full time?

[Miss Lydia]

weasel or mink which I believe is member of the Martin family would go after a goose here. Foxes to also we have coyote, bears and cougar although they say not. Hawks and Eagles, on you tube you can see a falcon taking down a Canada Goose. I couldn’t watch after the bird of prey knocked it out of the air.

 

[Leader Bee]

I'm pretty lucky here in the UK; No Coyotes, Mountain Lions, Bears or Eagles that will swoop down and take my little babies

I think the most i'm going to have to worry about is foxes and even then, im quite close to the inner city so any that we do have will probably find it either A) easier to rummage though people bins for food or B) be just a little less likely to come into a suburban garden than they would if i lived out on a farm somewhere - plenty of street lighting around here so it's not easy for them to sneak about.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh boy foxes are in urban areas just like in the country. Don’t ever let your guard down.

 

[Leraje]

Oh wow, I can't imagine a falcon taking out a full-grown goose! That is so impressive.

I live close to our main rivers (so wonderful floodfields) and I commute along the dikes, so I see a *lot* of birds all throughout the year. I see plenty of falcons and buzzards, and I see them on the hunt. Also see plenty of geese because a number winter here and breed here too. I've never seen either a buzzard or a falcon be interested in anything bigger than a pigeon or a chicken. I can imagine that they are capable of it, but it hadn't occurred to me to be worried about it! I've also never heard of someone losing pet geese to predators (chickens do get eaten regularly when you live outside of town and don't protect them properly. Or even in town; my parents unfortunately had a marten take one of their silkies and killed another, a couple of weeks ago).

The only bird I've seen that was interested in something bigger was an osprey who had his eye on a stork nest - but he was going for the babies, not the parents. And 4 storks worked together in chasing him off; it was amazing to see.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Y’all never had large predators?

 

[Leraje]

Y’all never had large predators?

Wolves until some time in the 19th century, killed off in most of western Europe. However they're on the return - since about 1 or 2 years we've got about 2 or 3 settled wolves in the Netherlands and a number of visitors. And yes, we're small enough that we know exactly how many wolves actually live here :')

We had bears (brown and black) up until the middle ages, but they were killed off around then as well (probably in the 12th century).

Lynx - killed off in the 19th century.

Wild cats - killed off in the 20th century.

The Netherlands are highly populated and most of the non-urban land is farmground. We only have a small percentage of nature left (and it's very managed, so not exactly wilderness), and it's mostly small and scattered, so it's very difficult for larger mammals to have a proper territory, especially for predators - which, due to the high prevalence of farmers, have also actively been killed off because of their risk to livestock.
We do still have a decent population of boar and deer (red deer and roedeer) and we've introduced wild(ish) horses too, though tbf most of those populations are very managed as well.
But yeah, not a good country for wild animals.

I think the UK has a similar story - pretty sure there were wolves and bears up until the middle ages, but probably not after that (except maybe in Scotland?). Lynx too, I presume.

 

[Leader Bee]

I think the UK has a similar story - pretty sure there were wolves and bears up until the middle ages, but probably not after that (except maybe in Scotland?). Lynx too, I presume.

True, the only wild bears and wolves we have is a very small and very managed re-introduction of the species - that i know of - is in scotland (possibly less than 20 individuals), probably exactly because it is very sparsely populated by humans; unfortunately, deepest darkest scotland is also where you're most likely to see a red squirrel, Britains native species, since the common grey squirrels you see here killed off most of ours are an invasive species from North America. I don't think i've ever seen a red squirrel...or a badger for that matter.

 

[Miss Lydia]

So interesting well we sure have the critters still and I am glad. Our ecosystem is missing a lot of animals that use to be here but hopefully with the right kind of management what we have left will stay a long time.

 

[dbabendererde]

When the wife and i rescued our goslings, who imprinted on us, we kept them in a seperate room and not around us 100% of the time. throughout the day we would spend time with them outside letting forage or in that room cuddling. We kept them pretty independent to not 100% need our presence but happy when we're there. They are blind so our voices are what make them chit chat.

 

[Leraje]

True, the only wild bears and wolves we have is a very small and very managed re-introduction of the species - that i know of - is in scotland (possibly less than 20 individuals), probably exactly because it is very sparsely populated by humans; unfortunately, deepest darkest scotland is also where you're most likely to see a red squirrel, Britains native species, since the common grey squirrels you see here killed off most of ours are an invasive species from North America. I don't think i've ever seen a red squirrel...or a badger for that matter.

Interesting; the only badger I've ever seen in the wild was a dead one next to the road in Wales. Never seen one here in the Netherlands, though I've seen their burroughs & tracks. Though of course I've also never seen a wild boar either and I live very close to a region where they're more than abundant, so... might just be my bad luck