McCANDLESS, Pa. -- Canada geese and their droppings have been a problem for years at North Park, which caused drastic measures to be taken.

Allegheny County has had trouble finding a solution until now. About 272 of the geese were rounded up last weekend and then gassed.

The United States Department of Agriculture determined that there were simply too many geese in the park. The result was a decrease in vegetation and an increase in feces.

Officials said that bacteria from the feces could pose health risks in the form of E. coli and salmonella to humans who use the park.

The county Parks Department said it has tried for 10 years to decrease the geese population through more humane methods, which included scare tactics and no-feeding policies, along with treatments to nests that are designed to ward off the geese.

Those tactics all failed and the number of geese continued to grow.

Over the weekend, park workers and USDA officials trapped the geese and transferred them to a facility where they were euthanized.

County officials said they hope this is a one-time only solution.

Initially, in May, the park said they would not use lethal methods to get rid of the geese, but they suddenly changed course.

"We were told at that time the park was committed to implementing a short-term program to bring about a certain reduction in the geese," said Rebecca Reid of Voices for Animals.

Instead, the county chose to gas the geese.

"That seems a little bit extreme," said park-goer Michael Graham. "I don't think they need to do that."

"Killing any species is not an effective way to manage population, because it takes a vacuum, so when you remove 272 geese, you can be sure 272 geese are going to fill that space," said one park official.

Officials said in the future, they would us non-lethal means to reduce the ever-growing goose population of North Park, but they could not guarantee they wouldn't consider gassing the geese again.

County officials said they would continue to monitor the number of geese in the park and use harassment techniques to keep the population under control.

---

Related Links:
More Allegheny County News

Get RSS | E-Mail Alerts

---