New regulations would allow states to control goose numbers

CHICAGO -- Federal wildlife officials are proposing a regulation that would allow states like Illinois to kill nuisance Canada geese, but the idea is ruffling the feathers of some landowners and animal rights activists.

If approved, the rule would allow states to destroy resident geese without federal oversight and lengthen the September Canada goose season, which resulted in a harvest of almost 16,000 birds in 2000, the last year for which figures are available.

Some landowners oppose the change, saying measures like shaking eggs to keep them from hatching, harassing geese with dogs or swans and scaring them away with plastic alligators or artificial distress calls is working.

"The conflicts that we're talking about involve very, very few people in a defined area," said Chuck Wills, Illinois coordinator for the Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese. "I don't see why we can't come up with more creative ways to address the problem."

State officials are studying how many geese live in urban areas to determine whether to take the federal government up on the offer.

75,000 geese is target

Wildlife officials say they want to keep the number of geese that live in Illinois year-round at about 75,000. Currently, the population is estimated at 85,000 and growing.

Canada goose populations were once decimated by hunting and development, but decades of federally monitored conservation measures have helped them rebound so well that there are more than 1 million in the Mississippi River flyway.

Many resident geese in urban areas around the country have settled in suburbia, concentrating at golf courses, corporate campuses and other areas where they have access to water and to regularly clipped grass.

But they can cause problems, including the up to two pounds of droppings each bird produces a day and the sometimes-aggressive behavior of geese defending eggs or goslings.

Some groundskeepers say alternative measures to get rid of geese are helpful but not completely effective.

"We've got dogs to chase the geese every morning, get them used to not being in one place for too long," said Jerry Arden, golf course superintendent at Old Orchard Country Club in Mt. Prospect. "It works good, but we've got Rolling Green Country Club across the street, and they've got a dog, too. So we fight back and forth."

Some states with federal approval to cull flocks report good success. Minnesota, which has about 25,000 geese in the Twin Cities area, gets rid of 3,000 to 5,000 each year that way.

But whether liberalized hunting rules and culling would lower suburban goose counts is unclear. And Wills vows any move to give states more authority to kill geese will be met with a lawsuit.

Ray Marshalla, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' waterfowl biologist, said urban geese are likely a problem that will never completely go away. He said the birds like manicured grass since they can keep an eye out for predators and enjoy access to the roots, their favorite part.

"If the habitat's there, the geese will be there," he said.