A recent item in the NY Times on a plan to remove Canada geese around NY City airports seemed to mix achieving the statewide population goal for Canada geese with a proposed local action.  The proposed action around the airports is to round up geese during the summer moult and later euthanize them offsite.  This population is estimated at around 4,000 geese.  However, the headline makes reference to the state of New York’s Canada goose population, estimated to be around 250,000, as opposed to their population goal of 85,000.  Two different things at different scales.  Reading the headline would have you believe that 170,000 geese were going to be rounded up and killed in one fell swoop to achieve that population goal.  The reality of the proposal is much different, though.  Interestingly, the estimated legal harvest of Canada geese by licensed, Duck Stamp buying hunters in New York state has been over 160,000 the past 2 years and over 100,000 in 7 of the past 8 years.

john_mcdonald Human-wildlife conflict, hunting