District of West Vancouver council has a message for the community’s Canada geese: Take off, eh?
Council members met Monday to discuss “mitigation” options for the birds, which are begriming some of the municipality’s choicest parks, pathways and sports fields with goose poop, and causing conflicts with humans and pets.
Canada geese are a native species, however the current southern population, which does not migrate in the winter, was introduced in the 1970s.
They are herbivorous, with a strong preference for mowed grass because younger shoots contain more protein. They also stick to areas with quick access to water for drinking, preening and giving them a place to escape from predators.
This has resulted in gaggles of geese making an awful mess of Horseshoe Bay and Dundarave parks, the great lawn outside the West Vancouver Community Centre and the district’s sports fields. A goose can poop up to 15 times per hour.
“It’s so bad on the path for most of this past summer that my dog wouldn’t step in it. My dog was tap dancing around it. Even he was disgusted. It is bad,” Coun. Linda Watt said.
More than being a nasty nuisance, goose guano presents public health risks when it fouls beach water with E. coli, and the geese can do lasting damage to vegetation and fields.
To deal with the mess, the district has hired contractors for weekly power washing of paths, and in 2022, the district purchased a “goose poop collector,” which tows behind a tractor to clean up sports fields.
Council’s discussion Monday centred largely on how to prevent more messes before they’re made.
The municipality has already cut back on mowing and irrigation and turned off decorative water fountains in problem areas, which has helped encourage the geese to waddle on, according to staff.
Going forward, district staff are recommending the municipality continue that and install temporary seasonal fences along shorelines to dissuade the geese from nesting.
Other more intrusive options are on the table though.
The birds can be scared off using lights, lasers or trained raptors or dogs.This, however, requires federal permits, and the birds are quick to learn when such measures aren’t actually a threat, staff warned.
If the district wanted to actually control the population, they’d have to hire professionals to “addle” the birds’ eggs – remove them from the nests, freeze them, and return them in an unviable state. That would first require a population survey, a management plan and federal permits. But it could turn into something of a wild goose chase, staff cautioned. Even though the population is non-migratory, they are highly mobile within the Lower Mainland, and without a regional effort to reduce their numbers, other geese may simply move in.
There are no stats on how many Canada geese are living in or regularly visiting West Vancouver from other areas.
“There will always be some level of Canada goose population in West Vancouver. The key is determining what the acceptable population is, which locations we are OK with leaving them be, and focussing our efforts at locations where we really want to keep them away,” said Tiffany Bentley, Weest Vancouver’s parks and environmental manager.
The clear consensus from council was to continue “landscape management” including temporary fences along the water before nesting season in 2025.
Only Coun. Christine Cassidy, who said she perceived that the population of geese was getting out of hand, spoke in favour of a more permanent solution – addling eggs or culling the population. Cassidy referenced a New Brunswick town – fed up with its goose conflicts – that opted to “load an inordinate number of their geese into the back of the truck and send them where they’re never going to fly again.”
“I hate to sound horrible but one has to be reasonable and rational,” she said.
