Yes, it may be cruel to cull Canada geese but is it not equally cruel to other natural species that depend on the habitat in the estuaries for their survival to do little or nothing?
Other methods are much too slow and ineffective to make the necessary changes. Back in the old days you would be fortunate to even see a Canada goose. Then men came along and introduced them for hunting and today we have hundreds of geese in this area that have no business being here. No, it’s not their fault, but they have to go.
Drive down Church Road most any day and you can witness the hundreds of geese in the fields, all non-native. For some reason only the geese in the estuary are being culled, not the many other ones. Are they not also doing damage?
But why stop at geese, what about the gray squirrels, rabbits, bullfrogs, snapping turtles, starlings and many more, all introduced by man. I think even the opossum has made its way to Hornby Island, all thanks to man. Let’s not forget the many introduced plant species that, like the animals, compete and displace natural species. Shouldn’t they all be destroyed? If they are cute does that somehow give them a right to not be culled?
I would miss the geese flying over at midnight honking as they go by, wondering where are they going.
George Olmstead
Parksville