LITTLE ROCK — A growing gaggle of Canada geese has taken up residence in Hot Springs Village’s dozen or so lakes and ponds, but some human residents are hoping to find a way to evict the noisy, messy neighbors.
The birds have continued to nest - some permanently - in the Village, causing irritation for golfers who have to side-step their waste and for some residents who say the noise and traffic issues with the birds have gotten out of control.
The privately run Hot Springs Village P roperty Owners’ Association formed a committee earlier this month to decide if more drastic measures need to be taken to control the geese, including the possibility of euthanizing the transient members of the gaggle.
“We’re just exploring our options at this point,” said Steve White, the planning and inspections director for Hot Springs Village. “It’s a lengthy permitting process and we’re just starting to look at it. The [goose] population needs to be thinned out. It’s a question of whether we want to move beyond the birth-control methods we’ve been using.”
Maintenance staff started oiling the eggs of the unwanted fowl last season to prevent them from multiplying, Smith said. Putting vegetable oil on the eggs prevents them from breathing and developing.
If workers destroyed the nest or broke the eggs, the geese might start another nest and lay more eggs. The geese don’t notice the oil and usually continue to commit to the clutch of undeveloped eggs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website.
Village staff were able to find about a third of the nests last year and oil more than 100 eggs, all of which Smith said were reported to and tracked by the appropriate agencies.
For some residents, that number is too low.
Those residents asked the association to consider applying for a permit to euthanize a portion of the gaggle when they molt in the spring, losing their flying feathers and becoming ground-bound residents.
If the association decides to move forward with the permit and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service approves the application, the staff will have two options for a supervised euthanization of the birds: They can be corralled into a pen and shot or herded into a trailer and suffocated withcarbon dioxide.
Smith said because of the proximity of residential neighborhoods and roads, the village would likely have to gas the birds.
“It’s a little less public,” he said. “No one wants to hear the continued shotgun blasts so close to their houses. My preference right now is to continue oiling the eggs and thinning the birds slowly. I find something that works, and I say keep using it. It gives us a chance to manage the birds and thin them slowly.”
The Property Owners’ Association started holding archery-only deer hunts to help depopulate those accident-causing animals in 2009. About 160 deer carcasses were donated to Arkansas Feed the Hungry earlier this year from one of those hunts, and White said if the geese are euthanized, the meat would also be donated to the food bank.
The Arkansas Game andFish Commission has gotten an increase in calls from neighborhoods and towns with Canada geese woes, and the agency has taken a few measures to increase the options for those residents, including adding a goose hunting season in September.
“We’ve loosened up some of the hunting regulations, and that’s not applicable everywhere because of the proximity to residences or other factors,” said Luke Naylor, the waterfowl program coordinator for the state Game and Fish Commission.
“Second, Fish and Wildlife has relaxed the rules allowing for property owners and groups to go online and register nests and take the appropriate measures to prevent those eggs from hatching.”
Naylor said the state agency doesn’t have a lot of control over the birds because they’re a federally protected species. He said first and foremost he tells residents to stopfeeding them. After that, they can legally “harass” the birds as long as they aren’t harmed, usually using radio controlled boats, border collies or sanctioned noise harassment similar to a firecracker.
Once the birds molt in a place, they will keep coming back even after being harassed. In the case of Hot Springs Village, the birds rotate between the golf courses and lakes when harassed.
The federal government has only approved a handful of permits for euthanizing the birds in Arkansas in the past, Naylor said. Applicants have to prove the birds are a threat to airport safety, agricultural crops, or public health.
If the Property Owners’ Association decides to euthanize the birds and a permit is approved, the program would begin in February and the association would be responsible for paying the $500 permit fee as well as for the trailer to trap and euthanize the birds.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/15/2010