SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Foster City is moving forward with a plan to kill up to 100 geese in an effort to address health hazards posed by the waterfowl’s growing population in the Peninsula suburb.
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The city council on Monday passed the Canada goose depredation plan, which allows the city to apply for permits which could authorize the lethal removal of up to 100 geese.
According to city officials, the geese's multiplying population has resulted in deteriorating lagoon water quality and other "sanitation concerns" in Foster City’s parks and spaces. Water level testing revealed elevated bacteria levels in the lagoon were directly linked to local waterfowl population, officials said. The high levels of e.coli in the city's water resulted in mandatory beach closures this year and poses "significant health risk" to residents.
Two of Foster City's beaches were named among the top 10 most polluted beaches in California in a study by non-profit "Heal the Bay."
The city's geese population currently stands at least 379, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, up from 323 last year, which was nearly double its 2020 total of 181.
The city added that lethal options would only be used "selectively" and in conjunction with a "variety of non-lethal alternatives."
"Foster City is steadfastly committed to continuing to use nonlethal deterrents such as hazing and egg addling in the effort to control the Canada Goose population and is exploring a variety of innovative solutions and landscape modification opportunities that could help address the issue as well," officials said in their release.
They also said that non-lethal methods, which include egg addling, hazing, and landscape modification, have all been used to mitigate the health hazards caused by the geese, but their success has been “limited.”
The paper reported that the city still needs approval of a permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and needs to contract a vendor for the project before the culling can occur. It's unclear the method that would be used to kill the geese.
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