Metchosin looks to province for help to control crop-destroying birds

Metchosin farmer Tom Henry is at his wits end when it comes to hungry Canada geese.

HeB次元官网网址檚 run through the fields with his dog, but the birds fly up only to land again. HeB次元官网网址檚 used annoying noisemakers to startle the geese, but they learn to tune it out.

HeB次元官网网址檚 even nailed hundreds of wooden stakes into his fields and strung out kilometres of twine, creating a grid that hovers over his crops and deters the big birds from landing.

B次元官网网址淚f the string is off the ground they donB次元官网网址檛 like it,B次元官网网址� Henry said. It's his own novel solution to the goose problem, but notes that some flocks are repelled by the twine and some arenB次元官网网址檛. B次元官网网址淚f three geese land, 300 will follow.B次元官网网址�

All this effort is too keep geese from destroying crops. Like the biblical swarm of locusts, Henry has seen flocks of 200 geese treat his red-fife wheat, oats and barley as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

B次元官网网址淎n adult goose eats about the equivalent to a lamb,B次元官网网址� Henry observed.

Two years ago Henry had an entire field of red-fife wheat, only days away from harvesting, completely consumed by the fowl. The crop werenB次元官网网址檛 visible from the road and when Henry ventured back to reap what he sowed, the wheat was gone.

B次元官网网址淚t was a couple metric tonnes,B次元官网网址� Henry said. In that incident alone cost Henry about $4,000 worth of wheat.

Henry and and a handfull other Metchosin farmers facing this flock-pocalypse took their concerns to the District, who in turn brought it forward to the Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting in Vancouver this week.

MetchosinB次元官网网址檚 resolution notes that the Canada goose was introduced to the Capital Region by the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1950s for hunting. Now with a population between 3,000 and 5,000 birds, the resolution says geese B次元官网网址渋nflict significant damage to farms crops in Metchosin and on the Saanich Peninsula.B次元官网网址�

The two rural farming areas are most often hit by marauding geese in the capital region, said Metchosin Mayor John Ranns, but farmers across the province are coping with this problem.

B次元官网网址淭hese arenB次元官网网址檛 migratory, they are residential geese,B次元官网网址� said Ranns, who admits he is unsure how to solve the problem.

Metchosin wants the province to set out a strategy to manage the geese population, which was supported at the UBCM, although the resolution is non-binding on the government.

In addition to string and noisemakers as a deterrent, Henry has a permit from the Canada Wildlife Service and the RCMP that allows him to shoot up to 30 Canada geese each year, but that doesnB次元官网网址檛 make much of a dent. As far as he is concerned, more geese need to be shot and goose eggs destroyed to help control the population.

B次元官网网址淭hey are really beautiful birds, when they are in limited numbers,B次元官网网址� Henry said.

While losing the crops is frustrating, Henry said Canada geese can can consume every blade of grass in a field, creating long term damage to the earth. When this happens, grazing animals are left with nothing to eat and the bare earth is exposed, causing erosion.

B次元官网网址淭hey will land on the pastures and eat your grass down to the roots,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭he grass doesnB次元官网网址檛 always recover.B次元官网网址�

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com