THE WHITE GOOSE PROBLEM

                THE WHITE GOOSE PROBLEM

YouTube URL:   https://youtu.be/PyeVKQNCH-Q

   Every year, a huge migratory arctic white goose population departs from its Alaskan Aleutian Island summer nesting grounds during late October and early November, and follows the migratory bird flyway along the Pacific Coast to seek winter shelter in warmer roosts along the Oregon coast.

   For years, many thousands of these geese made a stop-over at the ample marshlands of Richmond and Delta to feed and rest, before moving on to Oregon. In the last decade, thousands of these white geese have decided that Richmond is as far as they want to go.

   This creates a problem for the City of Richmond from November until March every year. The geese love lawn grass. Thousands of geese will descend on schoolyards, public parks, greenways, and golf courses and wolf down all the young grass shoots, leaving behind a generous puddle of green goose turds, and reducing the grassy areas to a defoliated mud bowl. To make matters worse, the geese love to stroll around while dining, so public walkways and paths are littered with their ample green signatures, creating a health hazard for school children and an obstacle course for Richmond pedestrians.

   The City has discussed and tried various solutions. One year, the City hired several “bird dogs” to chase the geese away from the grassy areas. The attempt failed because there were too many geese and not enough dogs. The geese would take flight for a while, wheel around, and then return to their feeding ground once the dog had gone. The City encouraged Richmond farmers to plant winter grain in their fallow fields as a lure to the geese, but the geese preferred lawn grass and ignored the offering. There was discussion on culling the geese to feed the homeless in Richmond, but the homeless were not enthused about a steady diet of goose, and the geese, who are not afraid of humans, were smart enough to stay in populated areas where they could not be shot. 

   The return of the white geese to Richmond will certainly spark some lively conversation amongst the local residents, as well as the usual angry “Letters to the Editor” decrying the City’s lack of action towards the annual rape of our grasslands and its accompanying tsunami of goose turds. 

   A Richmond resident will be asked in an interview if he has any ideas on how the City of Richmond should address its winter goose shit problem.

   Some of you might remember a television journalist named Mike McCardle, now retired, who worked for CTV News. Mike was very good at presenting news stories about interesting problems in entertaining ways. I am hoping that I can mimic Mike’s style when I complete my video (see above) on “The White Goose Problem”.