{"id":38,"date":"2014-09-10T17:49:02","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T17:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2017-08-11T14:40:42","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T14:40:42","slug":"too-many","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/?page_id=38","title":{"rendered":"Too many?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"S3740007\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the main arguments put forward by the culling brigade is that there are “too many” geese. This is a very lazy viewpoint, as it infers that they have in some way carried out some research into long term monitoring of bird movements, and that they also understand the complexity of those movements by time of year or even day and that the population of one species is transient and not static throughout.<\/p>\n

Of course the likes of Sandwell council park officers from the comfort of their cosy offices have not carried out any monitoring at all over many sites, nor do they have anything other than a guess as to what a population of one species is at any given time. A round figure of 1000 geese was given, but we strongly dispute this number are present in Sandwell, and that it was used as an over exaggeration to make it look like they had some argument of justification. Even if the population were 1000 and they had actually been able to count this number, who decides what number is justified in being able to live and what number should have to die, purely from a human subjective perspective?<\/p>\n

There are also that strange breed of hypocrites who take their 2.4 brats down to the waterside to unload their weekly leftovers of stale bread, thus encroaching on the homes of these birds, and who also profess to know that there are “too many geese”. It is quite unfathomable that such people exist, but sadly true, and they also are allowed the vote and are able to keep breeding.<\/p>\n

It is true that Canada geese may lay a clutch of 6 eggs or more, but it is not the case that every\u00a0pair of geese lay eggs, or that every goose has a partner. It is the case that many geese will return to the same laying site, usually near to where they themselves hatched.\u00a0\u00a0Once finding a nesting site, the nest and eggs are subject to predation and all the risks associated with eggs being taken by human hands. Very often nest sites\u00a0are very sparse and poorly chosen with some eggs rolling off and being discarded. An incubation period of\u00a0\u00a024-28\u00a0\u00a0days is normal.<\/p>\n

Many local authorities including Sandwell profess to pricking or oiling eggs to prevent them from hatching. Whereas this may limit the number that may hatch, it is pointless in the sense that if they prick all of the eggs then the geese will either move on to a moulting site, such as the two parks in question, or relay later on. Sandwell council in pricking eggs may well have initiated a movement that it could not see for lack of sense. We are certain that the claims of Sandwell council regards egg pricking over a number of years are false.<\/p>\n

Surviving goslings are then prone to a vast array of predators, of which the worst are man and his dog. This is contrary to the lies put forward by Natural England and the culling\/pest control industry who know full well about predation by foxes, magpies, crows, herons and even a different threat\u00a0from mute swans who may drown goslings in the water. The cull lobby in their lack of truth, are also secretive of their cull of native wildlife of some of the aforementioned, meaning that their meddling in nature, often results in predators being removed from the natural environment. The removal of “non-native” species like the Canada goose also prevents a source of potential food for these “native” species. They appear to be incapable of reasoning on such an issue, such is their desire to play God with Nature, that does not need their intervention at all to exist.<\/p>\n

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safety in numbers, but not many survive in reality<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

TOO MANY OF ONE HARM ANOTHER?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There are Too many”.<\/p>\n

I don’t know how many there should be, and I suspect neither do they in their ordered little worlds. They don’t appear to ever count them, except when trying to justify their cull intention, nor do they count the other birds such as ducks which vastly outnumber the geese on most park lakes. The lazy eye only sees something large however, especially if it happens to be on the grass and not in the water as in their ordered world \u00a0it should be.<\/p>\n

Killing one species to “save” another is a ridiculous concept,\u00a0yet it happens with squirrels of different colour fur types, and\u00a0there are\u00a0individuals who try to argue with me that somehow swans will do better if there are less geese on a pool. This is pure nonsense. Swans will fair well on well managed pools, with no angling litter, with no night fishing, with barbless hooks only used, where dogs are kept under proper control and out of the water where they do not belong etc etc. They will also do better where there is a source of natural food. The formal parks in Sandwell offer very little in the way of natural food for birds, but this also becomes a point on which they blame the geese for removing, when in truth there was nothing there to start with.\u00a0But it helps to draw attention to “a non- native species”\u00a0to cover up poor human management that has been going on for donkeys years.<\/p>\n

\"2011_1104rhodia0093\"<\/a>

A ring pull on a cygnet<\/p><\/div>\n

“Geese have no natural predators”. <\/span><\/em><\/strong>RUBBISH The young of Canada geese, if they survive human egg pricking as previously described, do not fair very well on many parks and lakes. They are quickly picked off by crows and magpies who will swoop as predators in a natural way. Herons are increasingly taking young goslings, and the rise of large heronries such as those in the Sandwell Valley allow this to happen. This habitat is managed for the survival of this species, and is known as “the heron trail.”\u00a0Foxes are the next obvious natural predator<\/a>. It is also very common to see adult cobs drowning goslings.<\/p>\n

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grey heron<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMGA0559\"<\/a>

Mr and Mrs Fox<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are also, as mentioned previously, dogs not kept under control, as well as animals\u00a0 such as otters that have enjoyed conservation schemes to enable the return of this persecuted native species. These are the “sexy” animals to people in the wildlife trusts, whose jobs depend on “educating” people into their way of thinking, but are they really qualified to comment on what has been taking place for thousands of years without their interventions? Should a university degree offer them any more intelligent observation than those who spend their lives studying nature, in the field and not through the bigoted world of the conservationists text book?<\/p>\n

The end result of removing Canada geese goslings is that the predators mentioned above will no longer have this food source available to them. They will simply look for protein elsewhere on the wildlife menu, such as other “native” animals and birds- or even “ornamental ducks”, which bizarrely Sandwell council appear to want to introduce onto their formal parks.\u00a0\u00a0Ultimately this threatens the survival of them all, including cygnets who will be chosen by herons and foxes instead of goslings. So what is the point of removing Canada geese from the wild conservationists? You are just obsessed with your own personal God complex and practice goose abortion to sooth your anal retentiveness for all things which you consider to be “non-native”.<\/p>\n

NATURE DOES NOT NEED YOU, IT DOES NOT NEED THE CONSERVATIONIST.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the main arguments put forward by the culling brigade is that there are “too many” geese. This is a very lazy viewpoint, as it infers that they have in some way carried out some research into long term … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":29,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1803,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/1803"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}