Thousands of geese culled in city parks
MORE than 11,000 Canada Geese have been culled by a council in the past two years.
The culls have been carried out at a number of parks and beauty spots across Stoke-on-Trent.
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New figures show council contractors removed 9,351 eggs from nests at more than seven sites during 2010 and 2011 and shot a further 1,929 geese.
The culls – which cost taxpayers £17,441 – are carried out "to protect native species".
Councillor Janine Bridges, cabinet member for city services, said: "British Canadian geese, unlike true native Canadian geese, are not migratory and remain on a body of water for life at the expense of the native British wildlife which, if not protected, will be eradicated or seriously depleted.
"Canadian geese need to eat large quantities of vegetation and as a consequence produce a large number of droppings which contain bacteria and are unsightly on paths and other areas of the parks.
"The council has a duty of care for all visitors and we must be proactive in our management of geese populations to ensure they remain at a level where the benefits they present in providing an added attraction to visitors outweigh the problems they bring.
"All preventative measures are also undertaken, including educating the public regarding feeding, habitat management and erecting geese-proof fencing."
The latest figures for 2010 and 2011 show:
1,844 eggs collected and 501 geese shot at Westport Lake, near Tunstall;
1,429 eggs collected and 219 geese shot at Hanley's Central Forest Park;
743 eggs collected and 194 geese shot at Queen's Park;
1,376 eggs collected and 264 geese shot at Tunstall Park;
1,121 eggs collected and 260 geese shot at Burslem Park;
1,337 eggs collected and 180 geese shot at Hanley Park.
A further 1,501 eggs have been collected and 301 geese shot at other council-run sites in the city.
Friends' groups at some of the parks today backed the culling programme.
Paul Breeze, of St John Street, Hanley, who launched the Friends of Central Forest Park group in August, said: "The geese can cause massive problems.
"They look very nice from a distance but then you see all the droppings on the paths and you get people slipping around. Human beings have to come first."
Some families living near Queen's Park complained to the council last year after being woken at 5am by an early-morning shooting of the birds.
But Queen's Park Community Partnership treasurer Lilian Dodd, of Sutherland Avenue, Dresden, said: "The geese make an absolute mess. If the culling is done properly then there isn't a problem."
Related news:
Cull of pigeons a fresh disgrace
'Nuisance' pigeons to be culled to clean up Hanley town centre
28 Comments
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by DocPhil
Monday, January 09 2012, 12:40PM
“To have to cull such a large number of Canada Geese is nothing but a failure on behalf of the Parks Department. Proper management of the water environment would prevent these birds congregating in such large numbers; yes they are a non-native species and do cause an inordinate amount of fecal waste, and graze any watersiode grass down to the soil causing erosion problems which leads to the eventual silting of the lake; however, a few simple measures would illeviate this problem and save the local council tax payer thousands of pounds each year. Canada Geese are large cumbersome birds ill-adept to jumping or climbing out of the water and therefore have a preference for waterbodies that have gently sloping shorelines that enable them to simply walk in and out; therefore, by altering the shoreline environment via revetting or by adopting various soft-engineering solutions and you will reduce the attactiveness of these waterbodies for these geese. Geese will no doubt still use the lake, but should do so in greatly reduced sustainable numbers. A one off cost with no annual culling.
Dr Phil”
by strandedhere
Wednesday, January 04 2012, 7:23PM
“So what's going on now that we'll find out about in 2014?”
by Billy_Idol
Wednesday, January 04 2012, 7:13PM
“Yes Steve... They should remember that THEY work for us, not the other way round and so the people of the city should be consulted on everything that happens, not go sneaking around OUR parks at 4am with guns.”
by stevebatkin
Wednesday, January 04 2012, 6:42PM
“Some years back at a Longton Chamber of Commerce meeting at Longton Town Hall I put my views forward as regards the humane control of pigeons. I suggested putting false eggs in place of their own real eggs in the nests to cut back breeding. Needless to say my view was ignored and at a later date discovered geese were being shot without consulting the voters elected representative councillors. Democracy has a lot to answer for!
http://tinyurl.com/c5fch56”
by scfcscfc08
Wednesday, January 04 2012, 8:00AM
“@Backdoored
Yes, I'm still blushing over that typo. Although a Jaguar is a car and a cat ;-)”
by Billy_Idol
Wednesday, January 04 2012, 12:45AM
“If I ever catch them culling they will have their guns shoved firmly up their a*ses!!!”
by Staffsknott
Tuesday, January 03 2012, 11:49PM
“Can the council Cull the people who go to Hanley and Newcastle on a Friday and Saturday night drinking. They cause an unsightly mess, spread germs, urinate in the street and are a problem to local residents.
The mess left the next morning is germ ridden and unsightly.
Why stop at birds.”
by Backdoored
Tuesday, January 03 2012, 10:37PM
“by Putthebootin
"Backdoored,did you mean faeces?"
It was in reference to this:- '..a valuable resource on feeding cars and dogs." -By scfcscfs08”
by strandedhere
Tuesday, January 03 2012, 10:25PM
“9,000 eggs destroyed,2,000 birds killed,plus the survivors.That's quite a population.How long had they been established,does anyone know?”
by fredthefrib
Tuesday, January 03 2012, 8:57PM
“Who had a goose for Christmas at the council offices as a Christmas bonus.
Hope they didn't just throw them away or blast them to bits.
You should always use things you kill, if not it's a sacrillege and a total waste of life.”