By Sebastian Kanally, Times Chronicle
“It’s gross.”
An abundance of goose feces at Rotary Beach is one reason the town wants to increase hunting permits for the bird.
A steadily growing population of Canadian geese is causing the town to increase the permits issued under the town’s Goose Management Program.
The town says that during the spring and summer of 2024 there has been a noticeable increase in the geese populations at Tuc-El-Nuit Lake and the Oliver Airport.
“It’s gross, we definitely have a problem,” Councillor Aimee Grice explained to her fellow councillors about the abundance of goose feces at Rotary Beach in Oliver.
The town’s director of recreation, Carol Sheridan, has also received an increase in public complaints on the amount of feces.
Sheridan explained to council that they clean the beach every morning, “we spend an hour and a half picking up goose poop . . . unfortunately we don’t have the staff resources to be at the beach for more than an hour and a half a day.”
The increase in feces around the lake has caused concerns over water quality warnings at the public and private beaches. As a result the town has now agreed to increase the number of hunting permits from six to eight to enable the program to better control the problem.
The town began permitting goose hunters in 2010 to reduce the number of urban geese in and around the Oliver area, with particular focus on the Oliver Airport and Tuc-El-Nuit Lake.
In the 2023-24 season, 47 geese at the airport and 2 near Tuc-el-Nuit Lake were reported killed to the Environmental Stewardship Branch Canadian Wildlife Service by permitted hunters.
The hunting permits are co-present with the Okanagan Valley Goose Management Program, which also attempts to control the Geese population but before individuals hatch.
“Egg addling involves shaking eggs or coating them with non-toxic biodegradable food-grade corn oil within 14 days of incubation to make them non-viable. Once addled, eggs are returned to the nest,” the organization’s website explains.
Two other options that townships have engaged in are allowing dogs on the beaches at certain times to deter the geese and pursuing relocation programs, Sheridan explained, which could potentially be looked at by Oliver in subsequent years.
The permits do not cost anything to obtain and no compensation is paid to the permit holders. In order to receive the permit holders must show proof of liability insurance coverage in the amount of $2 million, a current hunting license and valid photo identification.
Applications for the hunting permits are available at the Public Works department located at 5971 Sawmill Road or online at oliver.ca.
