From The Nanaimo Daily News
by Darrell Bellaart
News of a goose cull in Port Alberni doesn't mean Nanaimo needs to hunt problem birds in city parks, says Coun. Fred Pattje.
Droppings left by flocks of Canada geese creates a big mess in many Nanaimo parks, including beaches at Westwood Lake and Kinsman Park. in Departure Bay.
Pattje, a Departure Bay resident, was a Departure Bay Community Association executive member before his election to city council. But he sees no reason to follow the lead of Port Alberni council, which voted this week to make an exception to its bylaw banning shooting inside city limits, for a limited goose cull.
The cull was sought by a farmer who became increasingly frustrated with the birds eating seeds planted on her property.
At a public meeting Monday, Port Alberni city council granted Ducks Unlimited approval to find hunters to shoot Canada Geese on the Somass River across from Victoria Quay.
Pattje said before he'd support a cull, he wants "to know if there's a general problem" with geese in the city. He was unable to reach parks staff to get that information Friday. and while he understands the mess from flocks of geese is a real problem in some parts of the city, his first concern is public safety.
"I live in Departure Bay and I see them quite a bit, but I'm not aware of a large number of complaints," Pattje said. "But even still, to change our bylaw, which is similar to Potrt Alberni's, I don't think I would want anybody shooting in Departure Bay beach."
In Port Alberni, the request came from Ducks Unlimited, due to a sharp rise in Canada geese populations.
The geese pollute public parks and golf courses with their droppings.
"They are damaging natural habitats as well," said Jeanine Bond, Ducks Unlimited conservation specialist. "They have been shown to damage important estuary habitats by having so many of them feeding in one area."
And exception to Port Alberni's no-shooting bylaw means Ducks Unlimited can now choose hunters to shoot geese on land farmed by Jennifer Dyson, whose attempts to reseed and replant have been thwarted by hungry geese.
The birds were introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1970s by Ducks Unlimited and other conservation groups when they were considered rare.
With hindsight, today some would say, "maybe that wasn't the best idea," Bond said.
The hunt starts in September and is for one year.
Letter to the Editor: (unpublished)
“News of a goose cull in Port Alberni”??? Granted I live
in Parksville, not Port Alberni. However, if this issue is being discussed on
Nanaimo’s city council, who knows where and when this outrage will end…and an
outrage is exactly what this behavior amounts to.
I applaud Councillor Pattje for at least suggesting some
research into whether Canada Geese present a problem in the Region before
rushing to slaughter them. But let’s research the solutions too. How about a
dog or dogs trained to chase Canada Geese from areas where they’re not wanted?
What about firing a shotgun into the air…not at the geese? How about the good
old scarecrow or netting to cover seeds until they are established? I don’t
know if other solutions are available. Bellaart’s article certainly doesn't
suggest anyone is or has looked into it. I do know that a “limited” cull,
whatever that is, lasting one year is very likely going to kill many more geese
than are creating a problem. I know that the involvement of Ducks Unlimited
looks like a conflict of interests to me. I know too, that we humans are
notorious for killing the wildlife with which we've come into conflict, notably
the Double-Crested Cormorant right across Canada, bears in Ontario and BC,
rabbits, deer, and you name it.
In 1925, in a report for the Bureau of Biological Survey,
F.M. Uhler commented,
Should we not, in
some small degree, apply the same “right of property” by which man seems to so
jealously govern himself to the feathered inhabitants of the earth? In the
opinion of the writer, the ancient savage instinct toward wanton destruction
certainly has no place in modern civilization.
We seem not to have
learned and/or changed much since then.
Pat Phillips
Parksville, BC
250-586-5007
