Canada Geese are a non-native species of goose in the UK and one that many people despise, and are possibly scared of. They are now classed as a pest and so with a licence, culling of them is allowed. As you may be able to guess, I am particularly against culling because I think we should just let nature take it's cause but why are so many people a hater of the Canada goose? The Canada Goose is a good-looking bird; you cannot deny that but similarly with pigeons, it's a bird that is very commonly seen so I think the appreciation of them has dramatically reduced from when they were first found in the UK. People are commonly wary of geese because they have seen them being 'aggressive' but I have never known of this unless the goose is being threatened or when protecting their territory, food or young. I'd say that it's humans that need to learn when to back off and leave the poor birds alone so they don't feel like they have to defend themselves. I mean try and think like you are a goose and you've got a 5 year old running at you at full pelt, I don't think you'd feel too safe either! Now as well as this, many of the parks in the UK are getting worried about people slipping over on their poo because of the high volume that they excrete. Regent's park in London has decided that they are going to fence off the boating lake to prevent access to these birds so that the slip hazard isn't present for humans. I mean seriously, can people not just be more careful where they are walking? This will be incredibly stressful for the geese and will probably result in a large amount of deaths. And at the end of the day, they will just end up going to another pond so this doesn't solve the 'problem'. You know, people keep complaining about how awful the problems of climate change and other human infliction are to wildlife but when it comes down to it, most still put themselves first. At the end of the day, slipping over in some geese poo would probably just give you something to laugh about in the future but stopping geese from returning to a site that they've been coming to for years will seriously affect their survival. It is in these lakes that the geese undergo their annual moult during which they are unable to partake in other energy expensive actions such as nesting and migrating. If they cannot find an alternative safe place to do this in where they are free from predators then they will be unable to get rid of their worn out feathers which is essential to them. A telegraph article shows that Regent's park, park manager said that the number of geese present there is dangerous to the public. But surely he can't seriously be suggesting that geese are more of a problem to humans than we are, or will be to them?! If their presence in the park is 'dangerous', how about we stop visiting instead? So really, I don't believe that Canada geese are a pest but that humans again, are under the impression that we should have a higher rank than they do so stop them from living a natural life. Let me know what you think in the comments! ©
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