Vancouver Park Board votes in favour of goose cull

A report from Vancouver Park Board staff estimates the Canada goose population in the city is about 2,200 birds, but warns it could soar to more than 10,000 by the end of the decade if drastic action isn't taken.

In recent years, the park board has used a number of different methods to try to keep Canada goose numbers down.

That includes addling or shaking goose eggs, replacing the eggs with artificial ones, and using landscaping features to make parks and sports fields less attractive to the birds.

"What we've done so far is not generating the results that we need," said Park Board Commissioner Marie-Claire Howard.

"If we don't do anything, we're looking at a population of 10,000 or more geese."

On Monday night, the board voted to adopt a strategy that takes a more drastic approach to controlling the Canada goose population by killing some adult birds as part of a cull.

Howard, who voted in support of the plan, could not explain how the geese would be killed.

"I don't know. We haven't had that conversation on the details of this," Howard said. "As I said, it's a tool that we want to have. It's not a tool that we're planning to use next week."

The Animal Alliance of Canada has spoken out against Canada goose culls planned in other cities and is also opposed to the tactic being used in Vancouver.

"You have politicians on the park board making decisions when they don't even know how these birds are going to be killed and I think that speaks to a lack of awareness of the consequences of their decision," said AAC spokesperson Jordan Reichert.

One day after the park board adopted the plan, city councillor Pete Fry tabled a motion calling on Vancouver to work to create more bird-friendly habitats in the city.

The motion, which highlights Vancouver's location on a Pacific migratory bird route, is not specific to Canada geese, but Fry is still advocating for non-lethal methods of population control.

"(Those methods include) addling eggs, as a means of sort of birth control, but also even dogs," Fry said. "I've got a border-collie-type dog that would love to go into parks and chase geese to get them off the field."

The park board must now apply for a permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service, which has the authority to deny the request for permission to kill geese if the board can't prove it has exhausted all other options.