The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Or leaving deposits, as the case may be. Wisconsin is having to deal with a rapidly growing population of giant Canada geese. The feathered fiends are noisy, hostile and, worst of all, extremely messy. A fifteen pound giant goose can produce two pounds of excrement. Each day. Every, single day. These are not birds, they are poop factories.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Service has euthanized 1,400 nuisance geese this summer, more than double the number of a few years ago, said Dan Hirchert, a wildlife biologist who coordinates the goose management program in Wisconsin.
"That is the last solution," he said. "As we are removing birds, people come up and thank us."
The agency also has teamed with the DNR on a new two-page brochure outlining the conflicts and offering solutions that can be used.
Gary Tanko, superintendent at SentryWorld Golf Course in Stevens Point, uses a single word to describe the problem with geese at his 18-hole course — "Terrible."
"It gets worse every year. We have tried everything from the cannons from the DNR to harass them to trying to turn sprinklers on them, whatever we can do. But they keep coming back," he said.
Tanko estimates 50 to 100 geese — "a herd of them" — routinely waddle about the course, including on the greens.
In 1986, the DNR estimated Wisconsin had 11,130 Canada geese at breeding age. That population swelled to 125,200 last spring, Van Horn said.
Given the hatch of new birds, the DNR figures at least 275,000 geese call Wisconsin home this summer, mostly in an area east of a line that stretches from south of Madison to Green Bay — the state's most densely populated region of people.
"They are using up as much habitat as they can find and prospering," Hirchert said.
Wisconsin has two different populations of Canada geese, which are federally protected, Van Horn said. One group nests in northern Ontario, Canada, and migrates to Wisconsin for the fall and winter. The resident giant Canada geese nest and raise young in Wisconsin. They become the nuisance, he said.
By our back of the toilet paper calculation, that means that the resident population of dung machines is dropping some 275 tons of goose squeezings each and every day. Yechhh. Wisconsin's days as "The Badger State" are numbered. The goose will bury all the badgers - in goose droppings. The Animal Uprising™ is resorting to biological warfare.
By Lars Walker, Tuesday, 17 July , 2007 @ 2:14 pm
We’ve got ‘em here in Minnesota too, and it’s getting completely ridiculous. You can’t seriously argue the birds are endangered. They should be hunted.
By feeblemind, Tuesday, 17 July , 2007 @ 5:12 pm
Lars, I believe we have a Fall AND Spring hunting season on Canadian Geese in my state. And there are still too many. I understand that they are destroying the habitat in the far North due to their numbers as well. Usually when species overpopulate, disease moves in and devastates the numbers. I keep thinking that will happen with the geese. Someday.
By terrence, Tuesday, 17 July , 2007 @ 6:25 pm
wing-ed-rodents
By Sam L., Wednesday, 18 July , 2007 @ 7:49 am
Danged illegal immigrant Canadian geese, crowding out patriotic American geese–must be a sign that the Canadian health system causes them to fly.
By mockinbird, Wednesday, 18 July , 2007 @ 2:40 pm
They could try talking, negotiating if you will, with the geese. Here in North Florida, the Canada fly right by overhead and never stop in to get to know us, much less share anything with us. Those Wisconsinganders don’t know how lucky they are to meet and greet with those nice black, white and tan neighbors from the north.
By sam, Thursday, 19 July , 2007 @ 2:20 pm
We have a large number here in Salt Lake, hanging around the ponds and lakes and golf courses in the metro area. I can’t see hunting them in a populated area - which is probably why there are so many.