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Why again are Canada geese federally protected?
Tuesday July 17, 2007 | 05:44:26 321 words, 3758 views
Aren’t Canada geese just lovely? The way they fly through the air in a V formation. The way the parade their goslings in a row from wherever they are to wherever they’re going. Their gray, black and white markings with the distinctive chinstrap. Their angry hissing and flapping of wings and biting people. Their man-sized scat. Charming. Also, non-migratory, I say. I understand they are federally protected because they are supposed to go south in the winter. Well, I don’t know where you live, but in Ohio, the damn birds are on nearly every golf course, honking at players and crapping small Volkswagens on the greens. When they nest, those goslings always will consider their birthplace home and come back to nest when they’re adults. Well, if these birds aren’t going to fly south, let’s take away their protected status. Why should golf course superintendents have to pay $3,000 for a border collie to shoo them away? I guarantee if you kill a couple of them, they’ll find another place to live. By the way, you know why labs and golden retrievers don’t get the job? Because the geese will swarm the dog in the water and drown him/her with their great flappy feet. Border collies apparently are smarter than to get cornered like this. I’ve seen golf courses do all sorts of things to keep Canada geese away, including putting mylar strips around ponds (nothing quite as attractive as reflective flaps of plastic everywhere), fishing line grids across the tops of ponds, fake alligators (I really don’t get this one - why would a bird be afraid of something it’s never seen?) and even purchasing a license from the state to shake up the eggs once they’re laid so they won’t hatch and the parents won’t come back. This fall goose season, we could let hunters cull the ever expanding goose herd and everyone would have a better golfing summer in 2008. Comments:
How many geese did you encounter along the SS Trail? I just read your piece in Golf Styles, and liked it. My 100 holes in a day were fine, albeit slowed by a balky (not balco) putter. In northern Michigan, we encountered the foul bawstards in a few places, and had to invoke nonexistent local rules on "moveable poop" to avoid an unremarkable collision of ball and crap. Big dogs are the answer; you don't have to ever feed them, at least until the geese depart.
Generally it's a rule of thumb that a writer has run out of things to say when they begin writing on (a.) the weather or (b.) animals.
But seriously, advocating the killing of any animal just isn't right. Ever stop to think who's intruding on who's habitat (unless you're saying your local muni's been there since the dawn of time). T.R., find something better to write about. And remember what E.B White said: "A goose that cannot sh*t is an abomination."
Comment from: Donald [Visitor]
I think someone should have shaken your egg before you could hatch.
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