Peculiar geese deaths baffle wildlife officials

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: Toledo Blade

Several dozen Canada geese along western Lake Erie's shoreline have recently died or are presumed dead while others have become so sick they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or maintain control of their motor functions.

State wildlife investigators are stumped, awaiting word on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds.

"They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright," said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County.

Read more: http://beta.toledoblade.com/local/2011/02/18/Peculiar-geese-deaths-baffle-wildlife-officials.html

[defendandprotect]

1. Obviously, if we had true government concern tests would be done quickly ....

looks like all of these animal deaths are just be covered up --

[Buzz Clik]

2. Obviously.

[Doremus]

3. We were just wondering the other day where all the geese had gone.

We haven't seen any all winter. :(

[glinda]

4. You know.... neither have we and they fly through our yard.

[Historic NY]

5. I'll send you some from NY, they never go back home....

[dipsydoodle]

6. They never flew back

from the UK either. They're are regarded by some here , especially anglers , as pests .

It is reported that their distribution may have been assisted by man's accidental intervention in the 1950s. The bird had been deemed a rural pest and so roundup was begun while the birds were in moult, to relocate them to less contentious areas. The sites generally chosen were Council-run lakes, parks, reservoirs, gravel pits and ornamental gardens. It was not widely understood at that time that Canada geese are naturally sedentary. When left alone their population stayed level due to the constraints of food and breeding. When they were moved these constraints disappeared and the birds bred prodigiously, creating a rapid population explosion. The birds have since adapted to coexist with man to the point where they are becoming serious pests. They appear a naturally aggressive bird and they will compete with other wildfowl for food, especially if provided by man, typically children with bread or equivalent. It has been reported that people have been pecked or aggressively bitten, with a couple of instances of people being knocked off their feet.

The Canada goose has a prodigious feeding rate, (three birds to one sheep equivalent) with a rapid digestive system to match. This has two negative attributes. The first is that it crops plants to surface level, causing massive denudation. Also, its guano, which it deposits at five-minute intervals, in the form of loose, grey-green, torpedo-shaped faeces, is exceptionally harmful. The birds foul lawns, parks and lakesides due to their sedentary nature and the faeces may cause the deoxygenation of lakes and ponds, creating algal blooms and toxic pollution. There is also a concern of the spread of bacteria and viruses in children. Another concern is as a hazard to aviation. To this end, population control is being introduced. This involves, among other methods, controlled shooting of moulting birds in London parks, destroying eggs or coating them with liquid paraffin and even using egg substitutes.

Maybe the days of this goose are cooked!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A14540447