Overpopulation of Canada geese in Windsor-Essex

 

The geese population has boomed in the Windsor area, creating problems for some residents. 

It is estimated there are around seven million Canada geese in North America.  

Jill Nicholson is acting education and public programs coordinator at the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation, a bird sanctuary in Kingsville. 

She said that the City of Windsor’s solution to over population of Canada geese has been to send the geese there. Jack Miner provides injured birds with a home in the winter. 

“We have some geese which came from parks in Kingsville and Oakville,” said Nicholson. “Some of them have migrated and some of them are still here. We are helping them so they can migrate with the other birds. Canada geese generally migrate to North and South Carolina.” 

 In June, Jack Miner took in almost 1000 birds. Most of the birds are expected to leave. Jack Miner does not receive government grants, but instead rely on donations. 

“We do get less geese coming here for migration,” said Nicholson. “The issue is a lot of them are staying around because of climate change. About 50-60 years ago, there used to be thousands coming through during the migration but now we get less because they are staying year around.” 

Giovanni Abati is a candidate for the Green Party in Windsor-Tecumseh. 

“I think the population of geese is increasing everywhere,” said Abati. “Firstly, in Windsor because there is so much corn, there is lot of food for geese. Now, we are cutting the grass along the waterway so it allows geese to have places more to hangout.” 

He said they go to bathroom everywhere and make a mess. Also, people keep feeding them, which encourages them to stick around. If they did not have so much food, they probably would not come and would go away to different places.  

“Along the river side near Ambassador Bridge, the city has tried have black wolf silhouettes,” said Abati. 

He said the other way to solve this problem is that they should try using noisemakers.