— Town issues hunting permits to help cull local geese —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — Jan. 10, 2007) —
By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times
On the afternoon of December 27, Osoyoos resident Fred Cawdell was sitting at his computer when a hail of birdshot hit the front window of his Cedar Villa mobile home in east Osoyoos.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing, he recalls. There were two separate hails of buckshot, at least 15 to 20 pellets. What alarmed me the most was that [my wife] Carol had just gone out to the mailbox, and here were these shots being fired around.rnThe Cawdells were caught in the crossfire of legal bird culling within the Town of Osoyoos, a nuisance bird reduction program which allows hunters with permits to shoot geese within the town limits.
On this day, a hunter was shooting geese in an orchard bordering the mobile home park.
Their neighbours, Steve and Lesley Zsapka, were sitting at their table assembling a jigsaw puzzle that afternoon when their home was also hit.
The shots were hitting the house, the roof and the windows. We heard it at least four or five times over an hour or two, Lesley says.
My husband called the RCMP to complain about it and we were advised to contact the Town, but the Town Office was closed for the holidays so all we could do was leave a message.rnLesley Zsapka says this is not the first time the hunting of geese has come a little too close to home. A month earlier, in late November, a hunter had shot a goose too close to a trailer and the dead fowl punched a large hole in the trailer's skirting and was found in the crawl space below.
Although Cawdell says the hunter was located and was mortified at what had happened, offering the homeowner a goose as compensation and to pay for the damage, he feels a hunter's careless actions could result in serious injury to a person. He wonders how discharging firearms within town can possibly be legal.
Osoyoos' Chief Administrative Officer Helen Koning explains the Town issues cost-free yearly hunting permits, valid to March 31, to individuals to help control the waterfowl population within the limits of the Town of Osoyoos, on public property or on private property with the permission of the landowner.rnHunting guidelines are set by the province, and hunters must renew their licences annually with the Town, presenting identification of a Hunting Licence, a Migratory Bird Licence and a Firearm Possession Licence. The municipality also faxes a copy of the permit to the local RCMP detachment to ensure it is aware of who has the permits. The Town granted five permits last year and two permits are in the process of being issued this year.
Koning says the Town bylaw states: Discharge of firearms in town limits must be conducted with the highest level of concern for public safety, and only on the terms and conditions that if you are planning to hunt close to residences you must inform residents in advance and that all hunting seasons and regulations must be adhered to.rnLocal RCMP Corporal Mike Field agrees hunters need to use discretion and shouldn't fire near residences.
Cawdell says hunters need to exercise common sense and not shoot in the direction of people's homes or on windy days, when pellets can be carried far from their intended targets.
I think they should be shooting somewhere out of town, away from residences. I realize the goose problem is bad “ and I don't have a problem with them culling geese “ but I am absolutely dumbfounded they are allowing shooting in town near homes. I would like to see it stopped. We have kids in this complex.rnCawdell suggests there are other ways to cull the birds. He has seen other areas use rocket-fired nets to capture 100-200 birds at a time, and believes this method would make it easy to destroy a number of birds at a time.
Koning says Osoyoos participates in a regional goose management committee, spearheaded by the City of Kelowna, and the Town is also permitted by the Canadian Wildlife Service to undertake a regional goose egg addling program to help control the goose population.
