Herding Dogs May Be Too Late To Save Silver Lake Geese
Herding Dogs May Be Too Late To Save Silver Lake Geese
The extermination of Canada geese still appears to be moving forward, notwithstanding the efforts by the Whatcom County Humane society to bring herding dogs to the Silver Lake Park on a daily basis for the month of May. Although the Whatcom County Parks Department agreed to allow the Humane Society to try the dogs on a one month trial basis, it has not cancelled its request for a USDA Wildlife Services evaluation to determine the costs of extermination. The geese need to be killed during their annual molt in late June/early July.
Trying one nonlethal management technique shortly before the scheduled extermination is not a good faith attempt to exhaust all nonlethal methods of control. It takes a number of different techniques, community involvement, and the use of adaptive management to achieve an effective long term management plan. It is not reasonable to expect any one technique to be effective after a few weeks.
Nor it is clear how the Parks Department will determine whether or not the use of dogs has been effective without a management plan that establishes a target goal for the park's goose population. How much of a reduction in flock size is required for success? 10%... 25%.... 75%? Even more troubling, the Parks Department has no way of knowing the extent to which the dogs have reduced population size because it only has a very loose estimate of flock size. The Parks Department is waiting for a Wildlife Services goose count, expected several weeks after the dogs have been employed. These are the reasons why wildlife experts recommend taking NO ACTION before analyzing the situation and crafting a site-specific management plan.
Additionally, there is a problem of timing. Most geese will start nesting in late March or in April, with goslings maturing in May and June. Once geese start nesting, they will not leave the area. They are extremely protective of their young. In this case, it appears that the dogs are being employed too late in the season to be effective.
In other words, the Parks Department has agreed to allow the Humane Society to use dogs for one month, but the limited trial period, the lack of other control methods, the absence of a wildlife management plan and the late timing of the dogs’ arrival, make it unlikely to achieve success this summer. I certainly hope that the Parks Department is not attempting to placate the community, or using the dogs to appear to engage in (unsuccessful) nonlethal control methods, while remaining committed to goose extermination.
To ensure the public of its good faith efforts, I call upon the Parks Department to cancel its arrangement with the USDA Wildlife Services for this summer. Until the Parks Department is willing to make this promise, the geese remain at high risk of extermination.
If you agree with me, please send a letter to the County Executive, the Parks Department and the County Council stating that it is premature to kill the Silver Lake Park geese and requesting public assurance that the geese will not be slaughtered this season. (council@co.whatcom.wa.us; parks@co.whatcom.wa.us; jlouws@co.whatcom.wa.us) We must continue to be proactive to save the geese. And please thank the Humane Society for trying a good solution in a bad situation. Bet yet, send them a check.
