Foster City’s exploration of reducing its problematic geese population through lethal methods is facing pushback from protesters determined to protect the divisive bird.
Over 40 protesters showed up at the council’s May 17 meeting to demonstrate against any potential killings for population reduction and public safety and hygiene concerns. The city is currently applying for federal depredation permits to kill a select number, with one of two permits acquired, spurring residents and activists to organize and convince the council to reconsider and focus on nonlethal options.
Angela Stucker is an environmental scientist from Foster City whose children convinced her to attend the May 17 protest. Stucker called it wrong to kill even some geese, given its federally protected status and time spent in Foster City. She noted humans also play a key role in lagoon pollution, with not all the pollution issues the fault of geese. She was not afraid her kids would be in danger near geese, and she wanted her kids to learn about nature and the comfort it brings.
“The management policies are totally inhumane. They need to come up with a better option. This is their land [too],” Stucker said.
A protester who wished to be identified by her first name, Lynette, said the city has ignored resident calls about the issue and has not engaged with her. She has lived in Foster City for about 40 years and was distraught at the city’s rationale and decision-making. She and other protesters would attend more meetings and vote against the councilmembers if they went through with their decision.
“It’s not logical. It’s not reasonable. It’s plain wrong,” Lynette said.
The council has previously said the growing problem increases public health hazards, degrades water quality and leaves behind excrement in parks, beaches and recreation areas. City water quality updates for Gull and Marlin Beach from August found the primary source of bacteria was wildlife like geese and seagulls. The city said since 2017, Foster City lagoon and beach areas have had high bacteria levels due to goose droppings. Mandatory beach closures have occurred after analysis of water samples for beaches at Erckenbrack Park, Marlin Park, and Gull Park. Foster City has tried various methods to control the population with little effect. Methods include dog hazing, strobe lights, keeping goose eggs from hatching and fence barriers. In June of 2021, the goose population in Foster City was 323, with the population in 2020 at 181.
To address the issue, Foster City developed a 2021 population mitigation plan with a lethal option to kill geese in addition to its nonlethal options. It allows the city to apply for depredation permits, allowing people to shoot certain birds and animals for population reduction. Foster City said it would provide short-term relief until long-term nonlethal measures could solve the problem. A city staff report noted capture or killing of birds cannot be the primary method used to address depredation and would only be allowed with ongoing nonlethal measures. Nonlethal options include raking and sweeping feces, using unharmful chemical repellents, egg-addling, and collaborating with other cities and school districts.
However, activists say the city can do more to use nonlethal options to scare away the birds. Lisa Levinson works as a campaign director with the In Defense of Animals, an animal protection organization in San Rafael. She helped organize the protest in Foster City Tuesday to raise awareness and stop the potential killings. The event, called Let the Foster City Geese Live!, brought people together to fight for geese. She also started a national goose protection coalition in 2019 to stop goose killings nationwide.
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Levinson said killing methods for geese are cruel if killing them involves using a gassing method, which puts geese into mobile gas chambers for suffocation. She has spoken with Foster City groundskeeping staff to help provide information on modifications to address the root issue of an inviting landscape environment. The results have been positive, with one person connected with New Jersey animal organizations on the best nonlethal ways moving forward.
“The only thing that actually helps to reduce the number of geese in the area is changing the landscape and doing the landscape modification,” Levinson said.
Levinson noted geese are attracted to good living situations with safety, food and comfort in the landscape. She said the city must instead make the landscape inhospitable to the geese. Otherwise, new geese will see the same environment and move back in.
“This happens time and time again all across the country. Geese are killed for no good reason, and they are often reported to come back within weeks. They repopulate the area with new geese, and taxpayer money is wasted in this process,” Levinson said.
Foster City has completed the first step of obtaining a permit from the Wildlife Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as federal regulations protect Canadian geese. Degradation permits are used as a short-term measure until long-term nonlethal measures reduce numbers. Most permits are allowed for about a year, and cities must renew them yearly. The second ongoing step is getting a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, or USFWS. Foster City said that when a USFWS permit is issued, the City Council will discuss the next steps before any lethal depredation.
“All community input is welcomed, and residents are encouraged to stay engaged on this matter over the coming weeks and months. We also want to encourage the public to seek accurate information from official sources,” a Foster City spokesperson said.
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(4) comments
(Stucker) She was not afraid her kids would be in danger near geese..." Yea - but would she let her children swim in the waters they contaminate which has made Foster City water quality THE WORST in the state. That is the whole purpose for the removal because the problem has gone unchecked for so many years something tangible needs to be done immediately to save the lagoons. These 40 protestors represent everything that is wrong with the "progressive left" - they believe their emotions to be truth and only propose "feel good"policies that are haphazardly derived and never seem to get anything done. When a population of animals becomes disruptive to the ecosystem it must be reduced to get back to homeostasis. These fringe protestors should not be entertained unless they want to keep all the Geese in their houses.
Let the protesters clean up the poop.
Well said, willallen and LittleFoot. Until the depredation permit is obtained, these activists can take the time to show what they can do to better the situation. If there’s no improvement, geese feast for all. Perhaps Foster City can sell permits for regular folks to help cull the geese. BTW, wasn’t there supposed to be an April community clean-up event? Did this ever happen? Did these activists set an example by putting in the elbow grease to help with the clean-up?
I did a little analysis of the protestors change.org petition comments. Only about 5% at the time we're FC residents. The author of the petition could publish the full demographics but I doubt they will. I bet even at more than 5% it would be a very low number.
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