Introduction
Both circumstances exist in North Dakota. While hunters will probably always
long for more honkers sliding into their decoys, some geese have become
accustomed to life in the city, where only a few birds can wear out their
welcome in a hurry if they frequent the wrong spot.
Fortunately, North Dakota does not have a serious urban goose problem, at
least not yet. There have been problems, but so far the Game and Fish Department
and affected property owners have been able to keep them from getting out
of hand. Mike Johnson, the Department's migratory game bird management supervisor,
would like to keep it that way.
When compared to some areas across the country, North Dakota's goose/human
conflicts are minor. "We'd probably be laughed at to be concerned about
them," Johnson says. "But from my perspective, I'd like to resolve
our problems before they become...something we can't fix.''
Something like the giant Canada goose flock that inhabits the MinneapolisSt.
Paul area. The Twin Cities' goose population has grown from about 5,000
birds in 1980, to about 24,000 in 1994. That despite annual transplants
of up to 4,000 birds since 1982, and several years of special September
and December goose hunts aimed at reducing the population.
People in the Twin Cities, like people just about anywhere, enjoy seeing
Canada geese. But they don't enjoy walking through loads of goose droppings
at parks, beaches and golf courses. They don't enjoy being stalked and
hissed at by a 13pound gander trying to protect his goslings from innocent
passersby.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' trapandtransplant program
has filled up available goose habitat in the state, so the agency is having
trouble finding a place to put the birds it captures each year. This summer,
the DNR, as sort of a last resort, is proposing to capture and kill 200
adult geese and donate the meat to local food shelves.
The area in and around Detroit, Michigan is experiencing similar problems.
In May, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources was looking for approval
from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to kill about 1,000 geese and donate
the meat to food banks.
The prospect of rounding up Canada geese and butchering them, like chickens
from a barnyard, is distasteful to agency wildlife managers as well as people
who like geese. Yet it is perhaps the most reliable and least costly method
of controlling population growth once just the right number of geese becomes
too many.
Cities across the country, from Washington to Connecticut, have tried to
control giant Canada goose populations with methods such as: trapandtransplant;
shaking or putting oil on eggs to kill the embryos; special hunting seasons;
and even experimenting with vasectomies on adult male birds.
So far, trapping and transplanting, as well as other less drastic measures
like relocation of nesting structures and suggesting that property owners
stop feeding geese has been enough to relieve the few problems with which
the Game and Fish Department has been asked to help. And North Dakota's
problems are usually isolated and caused by up to a few dozen birds, not
thousands.
It has been about 10 years since the Game and Fish Department got its first
urban goose complaint. Since then, calls have come in from Fargo, Bismarck,
Mandan, Valley City, Wahpeton, Williston, Jamestown and Devils Lake.
"Most of the complaints we have," Johnson said, "are in relation
to golf courses, yards or lawns.... Most concerns are about overgrazing."
There have also been concerns about geese creating traffic hazards. "At
Devils Lake we've had problems with broods and geese standing right out
in the middle of the highway," Johnson said. "People had to slam
on their brakes to avoid them."
It is indeed ironic that these majestic birds, that still warrant an upward
glance as they pass overhead in spring and fall, now have people honking
at them to get out of the way.
Return to read other sections of Urban Geese.