Canada goose kills likely in Michigan

For the first time in about a decade, Michigan wildlife officials are planning to kill Canada geese because of run-ins with city and suburban residents.

Michigan’s goose population has jumped from about 9,000 to 201,000 over the past four decades, drawing complaints about their waste fouling lawns, parks, golf courses and beaches. The situation is particularly intense in the Detroit metro area. But even northern Michigan towns such as Alpena and Sault Ste. Marie have had problems.

The Department of Natural Resources has long allowed geese to be rounded up in places where efforts to chase them away have fallen short.

Captured birds have been shipped elsewhere in Michigan or to other states. But this year, there are no takers outside Michigan and the number of suitable locations within the state is limited, said Barbara Avers, a DNR waterfowl specialist.

“Some will have to be killed because we don’t have any place to put them,” Avers said Wednesday.

How many is uncertain. Relocation sites are available for about 5,000 geese. If the number that need to be moved because of conflicts with humans goes much above that, the extras will be processed as poultry and distributed to charities through the Sportsmen Against Hunger program.

“The use of these birds by charitable organizations which assist needy people is an excellent way to have a positive outcome from this unfortunate conflict situation,” said Russ Mason, chief of the DNR’s wildlife division.

But some say killing is unnecessary.

“There’s no overpopulation. The geese simply visit an inconvenient place,” said Sharon Pawlak, national coordinator of the Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese.

People are at fault for the growth in goose numbers, she said. Geese were farm-raised decades ago and reintroduced to many areas for the benefit of hunters.

If peaceful coexistence doesn’t w ork, there are non-lethal ways to get rid of geese, Pawlak said. Fencing, landscape alteration such as letting vegetation grow higher, and dogs - particularly border collies - can persuade the birds to clear out.

“It’s a maintenance program,” she said. “People say, ‘We tried this and it failed.’ You have to keep it going; you can’t start and stop. You may need to make changes, but you don’t give up.”

Avers said property owners can get permits to relocate geese or destroy eggs and nests only after alternative techniques such as harassment have proven inadequate.

Michigan’s statewide goose population is within the desired range of 175,000 to 225,000. But the problem is how the birds are distributed, Avers said. In suburbs, there’s no hunting to keep them in check - and manicured lawns, ponds and lakefronts provide ideal habitat.