There’s been a lot of squawking going on over the past few months in Mamaroneck. However, it is not the town’s nuisance geese that are making all the fuss; it’s the residents.

All of the controversy was sparked by the village’s decision to round up and gas the local geese population-a process referred to as “culling”- in an effort to combat the ongoing problem of droppings in public areas.

These birds are a staple species to the Northeast that many people enjoy watching. They can often be seen near bodies of water or flying high in their signature “v” formation. However, in many urban and suburban areas, large resident geese populations have caused significant problems such as excessive droppings and accumulations of feathers, over-grazed lawns, nutrient loading to ponds and aggressive behavior by nesting birds. These problems pose many possible health and safety hazards to the community and therefore affected municipalities find it in their best interest to control the problem, which means controlling the population of the geese.

Canada geese are protected by both state and federal laws, so tampering with their habitats- or their lives-must be sanctioned by the government. According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, “it is illegal to hunt, kill, sell, purchase or possess migratory birds or their parts (feathers, nests, eggs, etc.) except as permitted by regulations.” In areas where geese are a general nuisance, a federal permit is required to remove the geese.

The Mamaroneck Board of Trustees has recently signed a contract with the USDA to have a large number of the village’s geese euthanized in an attempt to combat the public health and safety concerns that have emerged. According to an article from The Rye Sound Shore Review, geese are scheduled to be culled this June after entering their molting stage in which they temporarily shed their feathers and are unable to fly. Any goose eggs found in nearby nests will then be doused with corn oil to prevent them from hatching. After the process is complete, the meat from the birds will be donated to local food banks.

Mamaroneck area residents and animal welfare advocates are up in arms on the issue. Those opposed to the planned culling operation have recently been quite vocal in the community. Facebook pages and websites have been created, letters to the editor have been written, and people have spoken out in Village of Mamaroneck Board of Trustees meetings. Many people agree that there are more humane options that can be used to curb the geese population.

For example, it seems that Mamaroneck has already invested in solving the problem of excessive droppings. In the fall, the village purchased a “Rake-O-Vac”– a machine used to clean up the droppings – for nearly $30,000, but claim that this wasn’t enough to provide an effective solution. It may be noted, however, that the device seems to be underutilized.

Concerned citizens have proposed numerous alternatives to the summer slaughter including habitat and landscape alterations, non-toxic repellents, birth control, utilizing the Rake-O-Vac, preventing people from feeding the geese, or using leashed dogs or loud noise to chase the geese away.

Iona students have also expressed opinions about the issue.

“I can see the point that geese may cause excessive waste and destruction, but I don’t think that this kind of solution is necessary,” said senior Valerie Ammirato. “Many other areas have geese problems and do not solve them in this way.”

Junior Carina Manno agrees, “There are definitely a lot more humane ways of getting rid of the geese.”

Other students, however, see the problem from a different perspective.

“Geese are a huge issue and however unfortunate, I think that euthanizing them is the only way to fix it,” said junior Cate Monigan. “Scaring them away is only temporary and cleaning the poop causes concern for harm to those cleaning parks and other places. Also, birth control for wild animals is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”

Other municipalities in the region have also faced geese problems. Scarsdale proposed a similar plan to that of Mamaroneck last fall, which was eventually put to a stop by community opposition. Currently, Yonkers is the only location in Westchester that has been successful in geese culling activities, but even Yonkers has announced that it is unlikely to continue the practice of slaughtering this year. Will Mamaroneck follow the lead of these other communities?

It seems that the Mamaroneck geese may be granted a respite. On April 1 during the village’s bimonthly work session, the Board of Trustees and members of the community met with a representative from the USDA to discuss the existing contract. During this meeting the USDA was asked to remove the section of the contract that mentioned geese slaughter, as the majority of the trustees seemed to prefer the use of more humane methods to control the geese population. According to the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Patch, the board will allow egg oiling to continue as planned but agreed that the village attorney would further discuss with the USDA about amending the contract’s language as it refers to slaughter.