Pile of dead animals discovered in Monmouthshire

10/02/2019

The RSPCA has launched a public appeal after an apparent wildlife killing spree was discovered in Chepstow, Monmouthshire.

The 'horror film' collection of dead animals included a decapitated deer, as well as Canada Geese, Eurasian Teal, Mallard and two unidentified birds of prey. The grim discovery was made on New Year's Day, with RSPCA Cymru urgently appealing for information and details on the apparent killings.

Shockingly, a decapitated deer and its severed head, as well as a separate deer skin and rib cage, were also found at the site. The location – St Pierre – is very close to the A48 and the RSPCA believes it's likely that the animals were dumped from a vehicle having been poached, killed for sport or gruesome entertainment.

Sian Burton, RSPCA Animal Welfare Officer, said: "This site at Hayesgate was like a horror film with a pile of dead wild animal bodies, and body parts, strewn across the floor. A deer carcass, removed deer head, separate deer skin and rib cage have all been found, as have two Canada Geese, two Mallards and what I believe to be a bird of prey. 

"It was so sad to witness this pile of dead bodies. It seems very likely that someone has gone on a killing spree and taken the lives of these animals for so-called sport or entertainment, and dumped them here.

"We're urgently appealing to the local community for information. This is a rural location - and we're hoping somebody witnessed something, or can shed any further information on what happened to these poor animals."

Anyone with information is urged to contact the RSPCA inspectorate appeal line on 0300 123 8018.

Source

Angry birds chase tourists at National Trust attraction

Visitors are being warned to give the Canada geese a wide berth as they have a 'territorial outlook'

Zara Whelan

20:23, 1 MAY 2018

A pair of “confrontational” Canada geese at Erddig have prompted a safety warning after the birds were spotted chasing visitors.

The aggressive North American birds have chosen to nest in the 1,200-acre gardens on the Wrexham estate,

Bosses at the National Trust owned property are urging people to stay away from the nesting pair, which are displaying a “territorial outlook”.

A sign has been erected in the gardens warning visitors to “take care” due to “confrontational geese”, with a Facebook post on the official Erddig page asking that “people give them some space for their safety- and also yours.”

With it’s leafy forest, manicured lawns and impressive water features it seems like the perfect spot for the geese to build a nest.

But with the historical estate attracting around 25,000 visitors a year, it’s far from ideal.

Read on  

Geese to be banned from Regent's Park Boating Lake because visitors keep slipping over

 Sara Spary 

5 MARCH 2018 • 6:30PM

Geese are to be banned from one of Britain's most popular public parks, because visitors keep slipping over. 

There are plans to erect a fence around the Regent's Park Boating Lake, to stop up to 400 Canada Geese flocking there in June to moult. 

Royal Parks, which runs the park, has been criticised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) for seeking to push nature into "a smaller and smaller space". 

Canada Geese cannot fly during the six-week annual moulting process, which sees them shed old feathers and regrow new ones between June until mid-July. 

During this flightless period, the geese must be near open water so as to quickly escape any predators on land.

Regent's Park is understood to see goose numbers rocket over this period, from around 40 year-round to 400 in summer.

The RSPB hit out at the move and said it could cause "distress" to end access for birds who are have become used to returning to the same spot "for years."

Continued 

Smart birds: Canada geese give hunters the slip by hiding out in Chicago

Date:  October 23, 2017

Source:  University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

Summary:

It's open season for Canada geese in Illinois from mid-October to mid-January. Unfortunately for hunters, Canada geese are finding a new way to stay out of the line of fire. Rather than being 'sitting ducks' in a rural pond, they're setting up residence in the city. Ornithologists conducted a recent study to try to find out why there were so many Canada geese in Chicago in the winter.

Continued  

Laser technology fights unwanted geese in Canada

10 August 2016

A Star Wars-style research project involving lasers is hoping to turn the tide in the battle between farmers and geese where traditional methods have failed.

Six students from the University of Victoria on Canada's Vancouver Island are using laser technology as a "hi-tech scarecrow" to rid farmers' fields of the perennial avian pest, CBC News reports. Peter Rashleigh, a fourth year mechanical student, who is also a farmer, tells CBC that geese are "very effectively scared by lasers, especially green lasers, even at very low power levels", and that the prototype device closes a gap in the market for an effective, yet harmless bird-scarer.

Mr Rashleigh explains that the beam is no more powerful than a standard laser pointer, so even if a trespasser walks through the field they wouldn't be injured. It also has a safety feature that switches off the laser if it's accidentally aimed above the horizon, so that planes aren't affected.

The device is simply programmed to sweep across a farmer's field at night, and the laser does the rest, he says. The most attractive part for farmers, Mr Rashleigh adds, is that it's less tiring than standing in a field at night waving a laser pointer at geese yourself.

Canada geese are a major problem for farmers, as they have the potential to destroy large areas of crops like wheat and barley if unchecked. Earlier this year, local politicians on Vancouver Island asked authorities to change firearms laws so farmers could hunt the geese for food. One farmer said at the time: "The population is way out of control - when they are hungry, they are just devastating to many crops."

Source

Geese Population Control At Walnut Creek Golf Course Draws Complaints Over Cruelty To Goslings

by John RamosApril 20, 2015 6:15 PM

WALNUT CREEK (KPIX 5) — An East Bay community’s solution to overpopulation of geese – the forced starvation of young goslings or exposure to predators – is creating bad feelings among many of the residents.

At Walnut Creek’s Rossmoor retirement village, the golf course has become a haven for hundreds of Canada geese, which are fun to look at for walkers – not so much for golfers.

“Many of them don’t care because they hate stepping into poop,” said Rossmoor resident Karen Perkins. “And they hate their golf balls getting into goose poop, right?”

It’s a problem for a lot of Bay Area courses and sports grounds, especially this time of year when the birds settle in to raise their newly-hatched goslings. But while people here may understand the problem, many are very upset by the golf course’s solution.

“They don’t have a chance…and it seems so cruel,” said Rossmoor resident Madeleine Davenport.

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Migration hard on some birds

By Gale Rose 

Posted Jan. 11, 2014 @ 12:01 am 

Pratt, Kan.

During migration season, tens of thousands of geese, mostly snow geese and Canada geese, can be seen in the skies over Pratt and at the Pratt County Veterans Memorial Lake.

Recently, however, a couple of Canada geese were seen frozen in the lake and dead. With multiple thousands of geese traveling through the area, finding a dead goose is not unusual, said Tom Bidrowski, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism migratory game bird program manager.

The geese could have died from several causes including injury, old age and stress from migration. The recent extreme cold could also be a factor.

No effort will be made to determine why these particular birds died. But if from three to five birds are found dead in one area, the bodies are gathered and sent to a lab for testing.

Another possible cause of death is bad grain. Some people might feed birds grain that can cause a fungal infection and kill the bird. For that reason,

“We don’t encourage people to feed water fowl,” Bidrowski said.

Because some birds will die during migration, eagles will follow the flocks and pick off prey. It is not unusual to see eagles hunting at Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivera.

Read more: 

http://www.pratttribune.com/article/20140111/NEWS/140119903#ixzz2qxKULyyZ

Gators lurk in P'town

By Jason Kolnos

jkolnos@capecodonline.com

July 05, 2013

PROVINCETOWN — The menacing red bulbous eyes bob above the water's surface in Blackwater Pond. A long bumpy snout and toothy grin complete the kisser only a mother alligator could love.

This sensitive pond located in the Beech Forest area may look like the Florida Everglades these days. But fear not, humans, these gators are fake. Just don't tell that to the Canada geese.

Cape Cod National Seashore officials have installed eight alligator head decoys in a remote section of the pond as a scare tactic to spook geese away from the area.

They are trying to protect a rare aquatic plant called the golden club, recognizable by its white stalk and gold-tipped flower spike. Hundreds of them carpeted the entire surface of the pond decades ago, according to Seashore plant ecologist Stephen Smith.

But the species' numbers have been all but decimated here since the 1980s, with barely two dozen plants remaining. Officials have fingered Canada geese as the main culprit because of their excessive munching on the plant, which is listed as an endangered species in Massachusetts.

Read on

Bird battle ruffles feathers in Commerce Township

Author: Ashlee Baracy, Local 4 Traffic

Some residents living near a nature park in Commerce Township are getting fed up with the nature living there.

Specifically the Canada Geese that are leaving droppings along the lakeshore and sidewalks near the Robert H Long Nature Park. Residents are ready to take action and their plans are leading to a bird battle in the community.

"Everyplace you look there's geese," said Milton Erlich, whose condos backs up against the nature park. He says the geese must go.

There is no doubt that the droppings are unwanted, but some activists have been raising awareness calling the potential goose round up inhumane.

Neighbors like Beatrice Leslie welcome the feathery friends and don't see the problem. "No I don't really, I read that letter they sent out and it was really heart wrenching," she said. "People want the geese transferred to other places, and you know I feel as though it's not time to do that, because they are living here with their babies."

Continued

Bird cruelty in North Yorkshire

Last updated Fri 3 May 2013 

Police are appealing for information following birds being shot at Norton Mills Lake at North Stainley in Ripon. 

Canada and Greylag geese and a Mute Swan were all shot through the wings and legs with a rifle leaving them dead or severely injured. 

PC Simon Crossley, a Wildlife Crime Officer with North Yorkshire Police said: “This is an utterly barbaric and sickening attack which has caused quite appalling and prolonged suffering. 

“I urge anyone who can identify those responsible to contact the police immediately.” 

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2013-05-03/bird-cruelty-in-north-yorkshire/

Busy Beavers Give Canada Geese a Lift, Study Shows

Feb. 13, 2013 — A new University of Alberta study shows that busy beavers are helping Canada geese get an earlier start when the birds fly home and begin spring nesting.

Ponds in Alberta where beavers were active tended to result in earlier thaw of winter snowpack, giving the geese a better chance at reproductive success, according to the study, published recently in Mammalian Biology.

The study is the first to link beavers to early season nesting habits of Canada geese in a Northern climate.

A team led by Glynnis Hood, an associate professor in the Department of Science at the U of A's Augustana Campus, surveyed 32 active and 39 inactive beaver ponds at Miquelon Lake Provincial Park in east-central Alberta.

The study showed that open water occurred 10.7 days earlier in active beaver ponds, especially the water that was next to main beaver lodge entrances and food caches. As well, snowpack was on average almost six centimetres shallower in active ponds.

The activity of the beavers warmed and thawed the water, which makes it more welcoming habitat for the geese to nest, Hood said. The open water and the active ponds, which housed island lodges, provided food resources and nests away from land predators for the geese.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213132328.htm