Dead geese, ducks found in Cape home's front yard

Residents of a quiet city street and the local police department are trying to figure out how 16 dead geese and ducks ended up in the front yard of a home in the northern part of Cape Girardeau early Monday morning.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department responded Monday to a call from a residence near the intersection of Greenbrier and Chesapeake about the discovery of snow geese and mallard duck carcasses in a yard.

There were so many that neighbor John Dragoni initially mistook the dead birds for newspapers.

"They were scattered all over the place. They looked like they might have been tossed out of a vehicle," said Dragoni, who lives a few houses down from the residence.

Sgt. Rick Schmidt with the Cape Girardeau Police Department said he doesn't know how the birds ended up in the yard.

"Sixteen in one yard is odd. I don't know if they were put in the yard on purpose, or drug out of the trash," Schmidt said.

Cape Girardeau police Capt. Carl Kinnison said the residents knew nothing about the incident. "Somebody obviously was doing something to them, whether they knew them or not," he said.

The ducks and geese had been shot. Breast meat from some of the birds had been removed.

"They looked like they had been partially cleaned as if a hunter had taken them," Schmidt said.

Although duck hunting season closed Dec. 30 in Cape Girardeau County, Schmidt said the fowl may have been taken legally.

Goose season is open until Jan. 25 in the southeast hunting zone, where Cape Girardeau is located. Both seasons are still open in Missouri's south hunting zone, which covers the area of Ripley County west to the Oklahoma state line and Polk County south to the Arkansas state line.

The daily killing limit in Missouri is six ducks and 20 geese.

According to the police department, the bird carcasses posed no health threat and have been disposed of.

Kinnison said charges of littering, trespassing and other animal-related offenses could be brought if anyone is arrested for dumping the carcasses in the yard.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128