A quote attributed to Qualicum Beach Mayor Teunis Westbroek from the Jan. 28 edition of The NEWS: “I can’t think of a better way to spend taxpayers’ dollars than culling geese.”
I completely agree with Mayor Westbroek. This cull should have been done at least six or eight years ago to move these filthy, destructive birds away from settled areas to our local lakes where they belong.
I hope that our city and regional district fathers do not plan on spending $35,000 in 2016 of taxpayer funds to get rid of 125 geese, the way Victoria did. As I have stated many times, a few hunters with 12 gauge shotguns and No. 4 birdshot could remove many of these birds at a much lower cost.
The birds can be cleaned and donated to people who normally cannot afford to buy meat. My mother used to spice and cook both Canada geese and the big mallards that flew down from the north so that they tasted very good, to supplement our meat supply. The local farmers often asked my brother and I and some of our friends to cull the flocks that were completely destroying their grain swaths every fall.
If someone has a big table in their farmyard I will be willing to come and help prepare these birds so they are not wasted. I am completely against trophy hunting but this is very different. These birds are not native to the area but, like the snow geese and Brant geese, they normally stop on their flights north and back and move on. Maybe we can help them along.
For some reason, people who have no problem with the slaughter of thousands of chickens and cattle have a problem with culling geese and deer and then complain about the rising cost of local vegetables, partly because of destruction by these animals. I find this hypocritical.
Ed FergussonParksville