[Grant]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

The sad reality is that Canada geese are federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Canada geese are Federally protected by the MBTA by reason of the fact that they are listed as migratory birds in all four treaties. Regulations must meet the requirements of the most restrictive of the four, which for Canada geese is the treaty with Canada.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act provides that it is unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, possess, sell, purchase, barter, import, export, or transport any migratory bird, or any part, nest, or egg of any such bird, unless authorized by permit. Take is defined in regulations as: pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to pursue, hunt, shoot, would, kill, trap, capture, or collect.

The primary motivation for negotiation of the 1916 treaty and the passage of the MBTA was to stop the indiscriminate slaughter of migratory birds by market hunters and others.

So provided we are discriminating in our attempts to slaughter them, it's all good

I wonder if this law will ever be updated to reflect the non-migratory populations. We have hundreds of thousands of the nuisances down her in Southeastern PA, and they've been officially categorized as Non-Migratory. So they stay and eat and poop and destroy our waterways all year long. Ironic -- they remain protected, yet a growing cottage industry has sprung up around chasing them away and dissuading them from "setting up camp" in business campuses, school properties, public parks, etc. One of the more innovative approaches I've seen here lately are the placement of dog silhouettes on fields. I don't think that would work on the Lake, however.


Here's an NYT article from '06 on the use of silhouettes.

And here's a company that offers them.

It may be an option for folks with waterfront property (or schools or golf courses, etc.) that want to keep them away.