‘Horribly cruel.’ Protests erupt as California city considers killing geese over poop

A California city says it may need to kill some of the hundreds of geese pooping all over parks and beaches, but some residents say that’s going overboard.

Officials in Foster City in the San Francisco Bay Area have applied for federal permits to kill some of the more than 300 geese in the community, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The city has not decided whether to proceed with killing the geese, but officials say non-lethal methods have failed to resolve the problem, KGO reported.

“It’s always here, poop is always here,” resident Rupander Kaur told the station. “We cannot walk here, we cannot sit on grass, it’s always dirty, they are always fighting with each other.”

But resident Franklin Ma told KTVU it would be “terrible” to kill the geese.

“No one should be killed because of natural behaviors like pooping!” says a petition signed by 14,000 foes of the proposal.

The Canada goose population in Foster City rose from 181 geese in 2020 to 323 geese in 2021, city officials told KGO.

The city’s geese population mitigation plan says the birds create health risks including unsanitary excessive poop and avian flu. They also damage water quality.

City officials have tried dogs, strobe lights, fences and goose deterrents to drive off the geese with no success, the document says.

But some residents say the city can do more to deal with the geese before resorting to the death penalty.

“Where there’s water, there’s waterfowl,” protester Erik Allen, who organized a rally Tuesday, May 17, at City Hall with In Defense of Animals, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars to do this, and it’s also horribly cruel.”

It’s not clear when city officials will make a final decision on reducing the goose population.

Foster City, which has a population of more than 33,000 people, is south of San Francisco near San Mateo and Redwood City.

This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 11:43 AM with the headline "‘Horribly cruel.’ Protests erupt as California city considers killing geese over poop."