50 GEESE "REMOVED" FROM
YAHARA GOLF COURSE
At the end of June, Madison Parks hired USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services to "remove" 50 geese from Yahara Golf Course based on population levels and prior years’ experience.
As you all know, "removed" is a euphemism for rounded up and killed during the geese's molting season when the birds cannot fly.
According to Paul Quinlan, interim Central Parks Supervisor at Madison's Parks Division, they are relying solely on habitat modification and hazing to manage conflicts at Madison beaches and parks. There are flocks of geese on Lake Mendota that move between several beaches including Tenney, Shore Drive, Law Park, Esther Beach, James Madison, and Tenney.
Parks told us that they encourage people to continue to monitor and haze the geese, so they learn to avoid beaches, bike paths and athletic fields. However, as far as we know, there is no organized plan to do this nor mention of it on their website. Repeated requests for Parks to ask for volunteers on Parks' website have been ignored. The word "geese" does not seem to occur on Parks' website.