E-Mail This Article to a Friend Filthy beasts A few generations ago, the Canada goose was threatened with extinction. Today, it has the unenviable status of full-blown nuisance. BY BILL DONCASTER

EGGS ARE DROPPED into a pan of water. If an egg floats, there’s a gosling inside, and it’s returned to the nest. If it sinks, it’s been caught before a gosling has developed, and it will be suffocated with a coating of corn oil that prevents oxygen from reaching the embryo. Those that survive long enough to hatch will live under the protection of a federal law that forbids the harming of migratory birds.

And, in all likelihood, they will never migrate anywhere.

In its non-migratory existence, the mighty Canada goose will live fat and happy for up to 20 years in any grassy area with easy access to water — and leave a pound and a half of feces behind each and every day. A few generations ago, the Canada goose was threatened with extinction; today it has the unenviable status of full-blown nuisance.

What’s the nuisance? Crap. A pound and a half per bird, per day; multiply that by a flock of 200, and it fast becomes a weighty matter. Add to that the fact that a growing number of the birds, called "resident geese," don’t fly south in the fall, and you’ve got an emerging public controversy.

"The prevailing theory is that they are the descendants of domesticated geese held by hunters around the turn of the century," says Stephanie Hagopian, director of Living with Wildlife Programs for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA). "Hunters were using live geese as decoys. The practice was banned in the ’30s, and they were released. And the population grew."

Today, it’s estimated that there are over a million "resident" Canada geese along the coastal flyway used by their migrating cousins (estimated to number as low as 29,000 pairs), according to the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. Unlike migratory Canada geese, resident geese have sidestepped nature’s population checks. For one, the highly populated areas where they make their homes have a low tolerance for goose predators like coyotes, foxes, and raccoons. The act of migration itself serves to keep the population in control, as the old and sick often die en route, while the young can fall victim to predators along the way. And migratory geese lay their eggs in Canada, where severe winters often produce seasons in which no goslings are born. Winters in this area, despite human complaints to the contrary, are never harsh enough to stall goose procreation.

According to H.W. Heusmann, a biologist with MassWildlife, "Canada geese will never turn around and say, ‘There’s enough of us, let’s stop producing.’ Without management, the flock will continue to grow."

And that doesn’t make their human neighbors very happy. Although there are no hard statistics on the number of complaints received about the birds, the MSPCA says Canada geese are now neck-and-neck with beavers for the top spot in conflicts with people, after racing up the charts over the last several years.

The ideal habitat for the Canada goose is relatively simple: any area with low grass and easy access to water. The problem is, humans build such environments for their own use: golf courses, parks, campuses, office parks, and athletic fields. Lawnmowers actually make such terrain more attractive to geese, since they like to see long distances at eye level so they can flee from danger. And when large numbers of geese set up shop in such spaces, there’s a conflict.

"They eat the grass, and then their dumpings are concentrated nitrogen, which burns the grass in the same way as putting down three times too much fertilizer," says Dudley Darling, owner of the Juniper Hill golf course, in Northborough, home to several hundred Canada geese. "They’re doing damage on both ends, so to speak. Then it gets on the mowers, which spreads it."

"At one point, kids were coming out of Lederman Field [on the Esplanade] literally covered in guano; it was all over their hands and faces," recalls Michael Hosmer, who’s leading a volunteer effort to force geese from a three-mile stretch along the Charles River. "The dock behind the Community Boathouse was just covered. Boil it down, it’s all about the poop."

"Oh, they’re a real nuisance," agrees George Jones, a regular golfer at Franklin Park, where more than a hundred geese waddle around the fairways. "It’s got to be a health hazard with the droppings; you have to constantly clean your equipment. Last seven years or so there’s been a lot more. Now they’re more fearless and walking right onto the greens."

But the Canada goose differs from other nuisance species in two ways. First, they are protected by the federal Migratory Species Act; those who harm them without a permit can be punished with a $500 fine and six months in jail for each offense. Bolstering that protection are vocal advocates for the geese, who are increasing their efforts to find more humane methods to deal with the problem than the extreme measure taken in other states: mass killings.

Second, geese are perfectly delicious (to non-vegetarians) and, unlike other nuisance species, can be harvested for food. They are not endangered, or even threatened, the argument goes, and since if left unchecked they could pose a public-health risk, why not both control the goose population and feed the hungry in one fell swoop?

In a limited hunting season timed to cull out resident geese and leave those that migrate unharmed, the goose is considered a fine trophy — and a good meal. Closer to urban settings, though, where resident geese congregate in increasing numbers, they’re much less edible, says the MSPCA; contaminants in the untreated water and commercial fertilizers the geese ingest give their flesh higher levels of mercury, and the results can be toxic.

The MSPCA is coordinating several efforts to find peaceful solutions to goose-human conflict. Hagopian is organizing partnerships between government property managers, civic associations, and other stakeholders to address the problem through strict "do not feed" policies, various forms of goose harassing, and "addling" — coating eggs with corn oil to suffocate the embryos inside. Modeled on a Virginia organization called "GeesePeace," the program attempts to deal with the issue before it gets out of hand.

A prime EXAMPLE of just how bad the goose problem can get — and how gruesome, some say, the solution can be — played out five years ago in the town of Kent, New York, which has a human population of 12,000 and, at one time, had a flock of resident Canada geese numbering in the hundreds.

Kent is a picturesque stop along the Appalachian Trail. Its premier body of water, Lake Carmel, is large and popular enough to support five public bathing beaches and visits from thousands of bathers, picnickers, and hikers every year. With sweeping lawns sloping down to the water’s edge, the lake was a perfect habitat for geese. Before long, a year-round flock multiplied and prospered, transforming the beaches and adjacent picnic grounds into places few humans could stomach. Toddlers were contracting impetigo after swimming in the water. And residents demanded action.

"It became intolerable," says town supervisor Bill Tulipane. "There were reports of [geese] attacking children and even leashed dogs. They’re really nasty. The local population was incensed. You could actually measure the increase in cholera in the water. At the same time, they were like the sacred cows of India with the protections they had. To us, it was a nightmare scenario."

The final straw came when the local board of health determined that the formerly pristine waters of Lake Carmel were no longer safe for swimming. Years of goose feces had taken their toll, and the resulting nitrogen in the water had propelled explosive algae growth. Lake Carmel was closed. The town tried harassing and addling the geese, to no avail. "Something had to be done," Tulipane says. "I don’t ever want to revisit it, but it had to be done."

That "something" still haunts Tulipane, and serves as a symbol of atrocity for goose advocates. After years of study, public meetings, and investigation, the Kent Town Council got permission from the federal government to take more drastic measures in the standoff between Man and Goose. At 4:30 a.m., on June 24, 1999, a man hired by the town corralled 125 Canada geese, packed them into crates, and shipped them off to be served for dinner at area soup kitchens and a veterans’ hospital.

"People called us at home, calling us murderers. Friends of the animals were threatening us. The controversy was overwhelming. It was a very dark day for the community," Tulipane remembers. "Today, we do everything we can so we never have to do that again."