Groups get in a flap over wild goose chase

Feathers are flying in Christchurch over the humble goose.

Game hunters want to keep their exclusive right to kill canada geese, but the Christchurch City Council is lobbying the Government to change the rules so it can help cull them.

The geese, introduced from the United States in the 1900s as a game bird, can damage and soil urban parks, damage crops, spoil water and present a risk in large numbers of aircraft bird strike.

Goose populations are managed by Fish and Game and can be killed only by game licence-holders.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is reviewing the protection status of different species of New Zealand wildlife, including the geese.

The issue has proved so contentious and complicated that DOC has taken nearly three years to make a recommendation to its minister.

The geese had been separated from the review of all species and given its own review, DOC senior policy analyst Michael Gee said.

"It is the hot topic at the moment. The canada goose issue by itself was as big as the review of several hundred other species put together.

"It was going to take quite a bit longer to sort the details for canada geese. It is by far the most contentious animal in the protection review."

Council city environment general manager Jane Parfitt has written to DOC calling for the protection of the geese to be changed.

She recommends geese be controlled in an area including Christchurch, Banks Peninsula and parts of Selwyn and Waimakariri. She suggests Environment Canterbury lead the cull, rather than Fish and Game.

City councillors will vote on the issue today.

North Canterbury Fish and Game regional manager Ian McCrory said his organisation adequately controlled canada geese populations in Christchurch.

He said Fish and Game had culled 9300 canada geese this year.

"We have a goose-management plan which has statutory numbers of goose allowed, and we are at that level," he said.

"We cull a lot of birds working with the council and the airport. The numbers are at the required level, although sometimes driving around Christchurch you would not think so."

Gee said it was problematic for Fish and Game to control canada geese populations when it had a statutory requirement to act for the benefit of recreational hunters.

- © Fairfax NZ News