It wasn't a wild goose chase last Wednesday at Russellville's Sloss Lake. It was a wild goose hunt, as Russellville police officers killed approximately 50 Canada geese in anticipation of last weekend's scheduled “Jam on Sloss Lake,” the annual Fourth of July event sponsored by the City of Russellville.
With an anticipated crowd of 7,500 or more expected for the Saturday event, RPD chief Chris Hargett said the extermination of the protected birds was necessary due to “health and safety concerns” that would result from an abundance of goose feces on the lake grounds.
Canada geese are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918, a federal law designed to preserve the once-endangered species. Governmental entities dealing with an overpopulation of geese may apply for a federal Migratory Bird Depredation Permit, designed to provide short-term relief in cases where geese overpopulation creates a danger or health and safety concerns.
Hargett said his department has obtained a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service each of the past three years, but this was the first time for officers to carry out the killing of geese.
“It's something that needed to be done because of the continual numbers of geese coming there," Hargett said. "I knew it wouldn't be a popular thing in the public eye, so we didn't announce it in advance. But we were encouraged by federal officials to do it. You can't walk out there without stepping in goose feces. We were afraid kids would get into it. It was a safety and health concern in the end."
Russellville city councilman Gary Cummings, who coordinates the annual Fourth of July event, said the council took no action to approve the permit process, and he was not aware of the kill operation until after it was completed Wednesday morning. Police closed the park in advance of the two-hour operation, which consisted of three officers shooting and collecting around 50 geese.
“There was no approval required by the council,” Cummings said. “I realize Tuscumbia has someone come pick up their geese, but geese have perfect GPS. You can take them a thousand miles from here, and they'll come right back when that's their home.”
Cummings said the city, along with the Russellville Electric Board, Water & Sewer Board and Gas Board, undertake great expense for the Fourth of July celebration, which culminates with a professional fireworks show.
“We spend a lot of money to bring people here and have a good, clean atmosphere and real good celebration for the Fourth of July,” Cummings said. “It's real hard to do that when you're fighting problems with geese all day. They will bite, but the bigger problem is with geese poop all over, it's hard to even find a place to sit down.
“I just don't think you can relocate a goose. They come right back. They take the same path north and south. They would have come right back. That's what we were told by experts."
Cummings said he was aware of other community events across the country where event guests became sick from contact with goose poop.
“I'll defend it as long as people fuss about it. There are certain things you just have to do as a public official, and this is one of them,” Cummings said.
Although the park was closed, an employee from a nearby business took photos of a pile of dead geese thrown in the back of a truck. Social media outrage soon followed as residents found out what had happened. Profanity-laced exchanges ensued as those who supported the operation grappled with its opponents.
Hargett said the geese that were killed represented about half of the Sloss Lake population. As of Thursday afternoon, 52 geese were present on the lake, locally known as the pump pond.
Hargett said relocation efforts had been attempted in past years--unsuccessfully.
“We had a group come in and catch and release them, but they came right back," he said. "The danger of disease and sickness from their feces is absolutely a reality."
Hargett refused to discuss specifics of the birds' disposal but said it was done in accordance with the permit. Federal laws prohibit the donation of goose meat to food banks or charities unless the meat has been processed at a USDA facility.
When the 1918 protective law was enacted, Canada geese would come seasonally to the United States and migrate back north. Today, Canada geese have become resident geese, stay permanently within the same geographical location year-round, according to www.wildgoosechasers.com.
Geese enjoy ample food, nesting sites and, until last Wednesday, safety at Sloss Lake. Canada geese defecate up to 1.5 pounds of feces daily. With non-migratory birds, the problem is magnified when the area does not get a sustained rest from the birds' presence.
Officials in Warren County, New Jersey, closed Oxford Furnace Lake last summer due to high levels of potentially illness-causing fecal coliform, likely resulting from large amounts of goose feces, according to health experts in the area. The county received a permit to exterminate geese in an effort to reduce the population at the lake.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2009 the number of Canada geese in North America to be approximately 6,000,000. Research has shown that goose feces contains a large variety of pathogens capable of infecting people.
While little debate remains that areas overpopulated with geese can create health hazards, much discourse remains about how to address the problem.
The Humane Society of the United States has a page on its web site dedicated to Canada geese.
“Rounding up and killing entire flocks of geese has become an all-too-common [and temporary] fix in many communities. Besides being inhumane, this also leaves room for a new flock to just move right in,” according to www.humanesociety.org.
“Geese shouldn't get a death sentence for doing what comes naturally, especially when long-term, effective and humane solutions exist,” the site reads.
The Humane Society advocates an eradication plan that incorporates limiting flock growth, frightening the geese in a humane manner and changing the habitat so it's no longer attractive to geese. Humane Society officials believe this three-pronged approach to be the most effective method to control overpopulation.
