By Daryl Major

Cull of Geese in Parksville not Popular, but Necessary

Jun 29, 2016 | 11:28 AM

It may not have been a popular decision, but the mayor of Parksville says it was necessary.

Marc Lefebvre was commenting on a goose cull last Sunday, where 484 of the birds were captured and killed, in what the city describes as a humane manner. A release from the city states the birds were killed according to Environment Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Services’ best practices.

Lefebvre says the geese have been a problem for years, noting the simple fact is the Canada geese is overpopulated.

“They have literally destroyed our estuary. If you look at it today, the eelgrass is all but gone, the silt is coming out of there now. We hope that by doing this, we hope we can rehabilitate over time, probably a long time the experts tell me, the estuary,” said Lefebvre.

The problem isn’t just focused on the estuary either, says Lefebvre.

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“They’ve been a problem on our playing fields, we’ve had to hire a pooper scooper at a cost of $25,000 per year to keep the grass clear of goose feces.”

Lefebvre says the cull cost the city an estimated $25,0000 to $30,000, noting he doesn’t have the exact amount but figures it works out to about $72 per bird.

That amount would seem to be a discount, at least compared to another cull. The Capital Regional District on the south island paid $31,200 to have 43 Canadian geese killed last fall. That works out to $725 each.

He adds a post-mortem will be done to determine if any future culls will be needed.

“I would think that given the extensive size of the goose population, we’ll see what happens as a result of this cull, but I can tell you that myself and others on council, we were calling for a cull for a long, long time.”

Lefebvre says the thing he doesn’t want to ever see happen is for them to have to close their beach because of E. coli contamination. The mayor says he did receive some angry emails from people upset about the cull.