Defenders of Foster City’s geese population rallied at City Hall Monday to urge the council to abandon its decision to kill up to 100 of the controversial birds because of their excrement droppings.
Around 40 protesters demonstrated to demand the council reconsider its July 19 approval of a population mitigation plan to cull Canada geese that include the option to kill the bird, a step beyond its previous efforts at nonlethal solutions. Led by protest organizer Erik Allen, the protesters harangued the council and its reasoning for killing the geese, which included public health hazards around water lagoon quality and poop in parks, beaches and recreation areas. Allen disputed city findings that E. coli in the lagoons was caused by geese, saying other bacteria issues were responsible. Alan also said the city failed to exhaust all nonlethal alternatives, including insufficient habitat modification and egg addling. He called on the council to listen to residents and animal rights groups.
“We can offer all we can. We’ve offered time, money and resources, but Foster City doesn’t want any of it,” Allen said. “They don’t want any volunteers. They want to make this big political move and look good on paper.”
Allen also delivered a Gander Slander citation from the In Defense of Animals’ National Goose Protection Coalition for the council because of the decision. The coalition is part of the larger In Defense of Animals organization, an animal protection organization in Marin County. In Defense of Animals is offering the council help from the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, which has offered to pay for a panel of experts in landscape restoration and modern technology to develop an effective nonlethal program. Lisa Levinson, campaigns director at In Defense of Animals, said killing up to 100 geese won’t work because of the optimal living conditions in Foster City. The area has no geese predators, with ample resources and a larger geese population nearby on Bair Island who would migrate to replace the birds. She urged the city to reconsider and make a compassionate decision to focus on different nonlethal methods like significant landscape modifications.
“The only thing we are asking for is to take the lethal options off the table,” Levinson said.
A statement from a city spokesperson said Foster City would protect the community from potential health hazards by the geese while continuing to offer safe and sanitary parks and open spaces.
“While the city understands the concerns regarding the decision to move forward with depredation, it has been determined that exercising the lethal option selectively and in conjunction with nonlethal alternatives is a necessary step to address the poor water quality issues and quality of life concerns that have faced Foster City for years. There has been no timeline established for when depredation may begin, and the matter will be considered by the City Council again prior to any action being taken,” the statement read.
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The city has said the capture or killing would not be the primary method to reduce the population and would only be allowed with ongoing nonlethal measures. Foster City has acquired one of two federal permits and now needs a permit from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
Miyuki Shinozuka, a Foster City resident who grew up in the city, attended the protest. She is pushing for more protections to ensure geese don’t suffer, noting they only wanted to eat and live in the city. She called on the council to show the same tolerance its predecessor did in 2004 in dealing with its feral cat problem. The council had an estimated 170 cats roaming in the city, causing safety issues throughout parks and trails. The city teamed up with nonprofits and volunteers on a spray and neuter program that was broadly successful, with numbers significantly dropping in the years since.
“There are plenty of people here willing to be on a task force to help with the research, but they have pretty much made up their mind,” Shinozuka said of the council.
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa was open to revisiting what the county can do about the issue, given the lethal options now on the table. He acknowledged the problem has existed in Foster City for decades and suggested border collies as an option.
“I’d like to see a solution that does not involve killing these geese,” Canepa said.
It seems to me oxygen from someone running for congress on this subject would strategically be better spent discussing the federal congressional scope for which they are running to represent our communities on. Some ideas would include how USDA quit on Foster City perhaps costing citizens tens of thousands of tax dollars & examining the rules established by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (summarized here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/20/2019-13097/migratory-bird-permits-regulations-for-managing-resident-canada-goose-populations ) and to a larger extent perhaps encouraging the federal government to adjust the treaty in a way to address the population issues that MANY communities across the USA face with extreme out of balance population growth.
The problem here is overregulation. Why would anyone in DC, Sacramento or San Mateo County for that matter give a hoot about an invasive species. Get rid of them in any way possible. Humane, drastic and whatever works, get rid of these pests. These protesters need to get a life.
The leaders of this protest seem to be out-of-towners who do not what it's like to have your kids walk through goose poop at all city parks and schools. Not only are all grass fields covered, but cement walkways and turf fields all have decent amounts of poop. It's nasty and none of the non-lethal methods have worked.
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It seems to me oxygen from someone running for congress on this subject would strategically be better spent discussing the federal congressional scope for which they are running to represent our communities on. Some ideas would include how USDA quit on Foster City perhaps costing citizens tens of thousands of tax dollars & examining the rules established by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (summarized here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/20/2019-13097/migratory-bird-permits-regulations-for-managing-resident-canada-goose-populations ) and to a larger extent perhaps encouraging the federal government to adjust the treaty in a way to address the population issues that MANY communities across the USA face with extreme out of balance population growth.
The problem here is overregulation. Why would anyone in DC, Sacramento or San Mateo County for that matter give a hoot about an invasive species. Get rid of them in any way possible. Humane, drastic and whatever works, get rid of these pests. These protesters need to get a life.
The leaders of this protest seem to be out-of-towners who do not what it's like to have your kids walk through goose poop at all city parks and schools. Not only are all grass fields covered, but cement walkways and turf fields all have decent amounts of poop. It's nasty and none of the non-lethal methods have worked.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
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