Geese wandering on Kin Beach.
(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)
January 11, 2021 - 4:09 PM
A Vernon councillor is pushing a controversial move to cull geese at various parks and beaches in the city.
Councillor Dalvir Nahal told today's, Jan. 11, council meeting that she will be bringing back an early notice of motion to cull approximately 150 geese in an effort to rid parks and beaches of goose poop.
Coun. Nahal asked City staff for a report about culling the geese from Polson, Lakeshore and Paddlewheel Parks, along with Kin Beach.
The move will revisit an early proposal to cull the geese which was defeated in a close vote in February 2020. As councillor Kari Gares was away at the time, the vote ended in a tie, which ultimately defeated the motion. When the motion goes back to council, providing all councillors are present, the end result could be different.
The original report into culling the geese from February 2020 said killing 150 birds would cost $41,000. The report acknowledged it "may be unpopular" and there "would likely be an adverse public and media reaction to this."
The report said the City spent $50,000 annually on goose management and uses scare and addling techniques. Addling, which started in 2007 and takes place throughout the Okanagan is said to have reduced the goose population by 50 to 75 per cent.
In the summer of 2019, goose poop was largely to blame for the closure of Kin Beach during periods of the summer.
According to the Okanagan Valley Goose Management Program, the geese found in the parks are a hybrid of several different breeds transplanted in the 1960s and 1970s to the Okanagan and had no opportunity to learn migratory patterns.
Vernon council will vote on the cull at a later date.
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