Re: NANFA-- two local goose stories

Mark Otnes (markotnes_at_email.msn.com)
Sun, 20 Apr 2003 09:17:29 -0500

Mark Otnes
Fargo ND

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay DeLong" <thirdwind_at_att.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 2:15 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- two local goose stories

> Mark wrote:
> >I'm curious as to why the increased canada goose population is resulting
in
> >increased poop pollution. Do they not digest their food enough or is the
> >problem that they let loose in and around the water? Has the biomass in
> >their ecosystem actually increased due to their presence?
>
> I write:
> Urban geese congregate around parks with water and private ponds. Before
> long every stump or knoll along the water has a nest. Adults and their
> precocious young find areas of open grassland and poop away in picnic
areas
> and other places where people want to play or sit. After that you don't
> want to go there. And of course they do their thing along the water's
edge
> and ruin the area for swimming. Meanwhile the homeowners along the water
> that don't need to use the public park feed them from their private docks
> and don't want anyone to get rid of them because they're attractive and
> they feel the geese somehow enhance their concept of a wild
> experience. But geese are large and agressive and drive away or
outcompete
> other types of waterfowl. A mile from my home is a lake just like that,
> but only a few miles away is a wildlife refuge with a diverse group of
> dabbling and diving ducks, mergansers, grebes, coots, etc...and a few
geese
> for good measure.
>
> You also made a comment about snow geese overgrazing their habitat. Do
you
> think this could be from reduced availability of habitat forcing too many
> geese into too few areas?
>
> Tom wrote:
> >It is now illegal to feed waterfowl in King county Washington. If they
were
> >forced to find their own feed, they would move on. This prohibition is
not
> >enforced or respected because many people feel that feeding the birds is
> >their "contact with nature". I challenged a friend who manages a county
> >park and he said "this is as close as some children will ever come to
> >wildlife."
>
> I write:
> Ah, that species Warmus cuddlii returns, or maybe it's Cuteus
> swimlii :-) All those people that want geese on one hand would demand
> opossums and gators be removed on the other, wouldn't they...
>
> There was a good show last year or so on Discovery or a similar program
> that dealt with Canada goose problems in Toronto and other large
> cities. It goes beyond people not wanting geese killed. They don't even
> want their eggs addled. It's an emotional thing, not logical.
>
> --
> Jay DeLong
> Olympia, WA

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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org