Nuisance Park Geese Will Be Euthanized, Then Fed to Area Homeless
Nearly 300 Canada geese in Maryland are to be killed and offered up at an area food bank. Park officials in a Maryland county are trying to kill two birds with one stone... by killing nearly 300 actual birds.
At two Montgomery County parks, officials plan to euthanize hundreds of nuisance Canada geese and then offer them up to a food bank to help feed area homeless.
Officials who say the geese are a health hazard have been trying and failing to deal with their overpopulation at area golf courses, parks, lakes and recreational fields, the Washington Post reports.
The geese will be removed from Martin Luther King Jr. park in White Oak and Rock Creek Regional park near Lake Needwood.
The birds set for the chopping block are what officials call "resident" geese because they stay in the region year-round.
Other Canada geese spend the summers in northern Canada and return to the region in winter.
The geese are a nuisance, officials say, mainly because of their bathroom habits.
"These geese are year-round residents and create multiple issues for park users and staff. The excessive feces they leave, up to one pound daily, is not only unsightly but causes unsanitary conditions around bodies of water, docks, pathways, athletic fields and lawn areas," Dave Petersen, Natural Resources Specialist for Montgomery Parks, said in a press release.
The geese also tend to tear up turf, damage shorelines and wander onto roadways.
They'll be euthanized starting this month and into July. Once processed, the meat will be donated to the Maryland Food Bank.
Which begs the question: will the so-called homeless refuse to eat what is placed before them?
Perhaps they can eat squab (pigeon) instead?
More panache, doncha know.
