Culling operation cancelled: Canada geese to live on until further notice

Some 180 Canada geese at Huntly's Lake Hakanoa will be killed off later this month. Photo / Waikato District Council

Waikato District Council is reassessing its method to cull Canada geese which are said to be ruining the nearby fields at Lake Hakanoa, Huntly.

The culling operation was initially set to lure the flock of Canada geese at Huntly Domain to their death by hand feeding them food pellets laced with poison or narcotic substance.

But now further information collected by Waikato Regional Council and Fish and Game suggests that the poison is not enough to kill a Canada goose.

The product puts birds to sleep within half an hour and they are subsequently humanely destroyed. However, it is not effective enough on a bird the size of a Canada goose.

"The poison would take longer than half an hour to take effect, meaning that the geese could disperse to other area before the product would take effect."

Council is now investigating other methods to control the goose population.

"It is unfortunate we have received conflicting information on this method. However, we still need to control the geese population at Lake Hakanoa and once an appropriate solution has been found we will be letting our community know our reworked plan," Community Connections manager Megan May said.

"There have been suggestions that relocation of the Canada geese could be a control method. But we feel that this would just transfer the problem elsewhere, and due to the migratory nature of Canada geese they will likely return to the same spot."

The 180 geese at Lake Hakanoa are reported to be eating the grass on the domain. A goose can eat about 1kg of grass including roots and produce up to 1kg of excrement a day, according to the council.

The damage caused by the geese meant that council would have to spend up to $10,000 on re-sowing them if no action is taken.

SAFE campaigns manager Jessica Chambers told the Herald earlier that it was a short-sighted approach and the council should instead by looking at relocating and rehoming the geese.

"Culling these birds will simply make space for more geese to take their place, creating an annual cycle of more killing."