Geese: Going Where They're Not Wanted

Ryan Park in July

Although I've been walking Foster City's trails and sidewalks for decades, only recently have waterfowl feces become a noticeable problem.

Foster City has a poop problem, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

For years the Canadian Goose population has multiplied in the city, which sits right next to the bay and has several parks along a central lagoon that attracts waterfowl from all over. The increase in Canada geese has also brought with it poop in parks, streets and waterways, sparking complaints from residents fed up with the unwanted feces and want the city to manage the geese population.

The City has been mulling "several non-lethal and lethal means" of reducing geese, but an initial proposal to cull 100 geese has been stymied by another group of residents who are opposed to any solution that involves killing birds.

Your humble blogger lives far enough away from the lagoon that the geese haven't posed a significant problem, and I'm content to let the politics play out among those who are most concerned.

However, I do have a relevant historical observation. At one time there were colonies of feral cats living in San Mateo County near water's edge. They were descendants of house cats who were released into the wild by negligent owners. Their numbers increased because of the Bay's plentiful food sources.

The Homeless Cat Network initiated Project Bay Cat to reduce the feline population and even received help from bird lovers who had a common interest in protecting wildfowl from feral cats. Through its program of Trap-Neuter-Release, the cat population was reduced from several hundred to a few dozen who lived out the rest of their non-fertile lives in the wild. Project Bay Cat declared success and was disbanded 4-5 years ago.

Colonies of feral cats bring their own set of health and animal-welfare problems, but one problem we didn't have when they were around was too many geese in Foster City.