Then imagine that the bread that they smell is actually a trap to lure them into gas chambers and put them to death, including the newborns. One doesn't have to imagine; this is real.
In less than two weeks, the City of Seattle plans to control the Canadian goose population by gassing them to death with carbon dioxide, and PAWS is trying to stop it with the help of a petition with the signatures of 53 Green Lake-area businesses asking Mayor Greg Nickels to use a more humane method of controlling the geese.
"PAWS hopes to reach our supporters and members of the public with what is going on in the parks with the kill," said Jennifer Hillman, campaign coordinator for PAWS. "[This is] to let them know that there are humane and much more effective alternatives and then encourage them to contact the mayor and parks department and urge them to halt the kill and implement other methods."
Currently Seattle and neighbor ing jurisdictions (including Mercer Island, University of Washington, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, Woodinville, Federal Way and Kent) have a contract with USDA Wildlife Services authorizing them to euthanize the geese as soon as they are done molting and to addle up to 2,000 eggs and remove up to 3,000 geese in the region. This process has a total cost of $4,600.
Egg addling is the most effective method in the long run, according to Dewey Potter, communications manager for Seattle Parks and Recreation and spokesperson for parks Superintendent Ken Bounds. The eggs are coated with mineral oil, disenabling them to hatch. If the eggs are simply removed, the mother goose will lay more; if the eggs are coated, she will not.
The geese were brought to the region during the 1960s by wildlife biologists from the Columbia River; they don't want to leave because they, unlike many Seattle residents, like the climate. There are an estimated 3,000 geese in the Seattle area, and 25,000 in the region.
The problem with the geese is their feces. Each bird defecates at least 3 pounds a day, and not only is it expensive to clean up the feces, but also dangerous. They contain disease-causing organisms such as salmonella.
"We have lifeguards raking goose poop off the beaches. It's just not safe," Potter said.
She said that the geese have tried to be controlled in the past: "We use a whole, multi-faceted process of tackling the problem," she said.
This process includes daily cleaning and sweeping, letting the grass grow longer, tying Mylar fringe to docks in attempt to scare away the geese, applying commercial repellants to the grass, sending geese out of the area, using dogs to chase away the geese, egg addling and limited euthanasia.
"Killing the geese as a way of managing their population is only one option in the contract that the city has signed with the USDA," Hillman said. "What can be done is that the city decides that the effective, humane and much less expensive method should at least be tried in a comprehensive way in Seattle and does not use their option to round up the geese and gas them."
Potter said that the parks department has a great amount of respect for PAWS' feelings on this mission. She also said that the priority is to provide safe places for people to take their children to play. "The main message is that we are trying to solve this problem as a region," Potter said. "We are employing every method except for geese-chasing dogs. It merely chases them from point A to point B." Potter said that they are attempting to step up their addling efforts, letting private home owners know about the egg-addling process.
"We've sent letters to all the waterfront property owners and gave them the addling hotline," Potter said.
Homeowners who call the hotline can grant permission for a USDA biologist to addle the eggs on their property.
"We believe this [egg addling] will be the solution to the problem," Potter said.
The Green Lake area businesses that support the petition that PAWS has circulated oppose the killing of the geese and firmly stand with PAWS in support of more humane methods.
"I run around the lake every day and see mother geese and goslings," said Mike Skahen, broker at Lake and Company Realty. "I hate to see them get gassed. They're cute little guys."
Hillman doesn't think that the petition alone will keep the geese from being euthanized, but she said she is hoping that it will help to educate the public and will work with the city to implement the alternatives for next year.
"I have seen the gassing take place," said Claudine Eraldson, a volunteer for PAWS and the Humane Society. "It is so atrocious and inhumane. All we are asking is 'give geese a chance.'"
