AR-News: U.S. may let states thin flocks of birds that no longer migrate

[jim robertson]

HONKED OFF
U.S. may let states thin flocks of birds that no longer migrate

Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau   Friday, August 22, 2003

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chart attached

Washington -- Flocks of Canada geese soon could become sitting ducks.

The federal government proposed Thursday allowing states to kill hundreds of 
thousands of the big, brassy birds that have become an increasing nuisance 
in urban centers, including the Bay Area.

The federally protected birds, which can grow to 14 pounds and live for up 
to 20 years, have found life in urban areas so hospitable that many of them 
no longer bother to follow their species' ancient migration path from Canada 
in the summer to their winter homes in the southern United States and 
Mexico.

It's these resident geese -- whose messy, aggressive and honking behavior 
has prompted a growing chorus of complaints from homeowners, park districts, 
golf courses and suburban business parks -- that are the subject of the 
rules proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It's a difficult problem," said Robert Trost, a biologist with the service 
in Portland. "You've got to balance the desire not to harm wildlife with the 
birds' unchecked growth in our urban environment."

"The geese are like people. They find a nice place to live, and they stay," 
said Fremont Mayor Gus Morrison, who for years has wrestled with a big 
population of Canada geese at Lake Elizabeth, a huge park where the birds 
have found a happy home amid the mowed grass and water and a lack of 
predators.


GOOSE-CHASING DOG

full story:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/22/MN254614.DTL

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