The Lake District National Park Authority plan to cull by shooting up to 200 Canada geese this Spring

Thanks Merlin I'm warming to you.

I would never claim that there is never a reason to cull, as you say disease sometimes means that it is the only option,however the Canada Geese are not diseased and the reasons given by the LDNPA which I have quoted, are not reasons to kill them.

I am disappointed by the lack of support from the RSPB I think as a society for the protection of birds they should do just that and not "cherry pick" causes.

A petition with 2,500 signatures was handed in today to the LDNPA opposing the cull and a demo at Bowness bay is planned for March- it would be useful to have some RSPB representitives and members there.

He who sit on fence may get splinter in rear

In fairness to the LDNPA, the reasons they have given for resorting to this action are consistent with the terms of the general licence permitting the control of certain species of bird in very specific circumstances. Canada Geese are one of the species named in the 2012 general licence. The park authority has been completely upfront and open about this matter when, technically, they could have just got on with it.

It is difficult to conceive what the RSPB could do other than make tut tutting noises. Canada Geese are not a species of conservation concern and a legal cull of 200 isn't going to even graze the surface of the Cumbrian population.

I'm never a fan of culls unless they're about supporting biodiversity by correcting a cultural mistake (like introducing species where they don't belong), but my opinion isn't worth a half eaten Mars bar. The RSPB, on the other hand, has to pick its battles carefully in order to maintain its credibility.  I can understand why it might prefer to stay out of this spat.

JBNTS

If you had seen grazing land that has been paddled flat by large numbers of geese you might understand why there may need to be some sort of cull.The grass is fouled so badly sheep cannot graze on it and one farmer in the dales reckons the fouled grass can cause pregnant ewes to abort but I am not totally convinced on that fact.There may be a way of dissuading the geese from using certain land which would mean we do not need to cull.

It's horrible, but when you see the destruction of habitat large numbers of this introduced species can cause then you can understand the reasoning. I am sure that the people on the LDNPA who are having to deal with the situation are as devastated as the next person.

Remember they are working for and often volunteering for the organisation because they are interested in the protection of the environment and all that lives within it. Some are probably birdlovers too.

It takes guts to put yourself in the position of having to make decisions, stick your head above the parapet and get shot at.

People who do the most shooting should try it sometime.

Jenni

Oh I do feel for you Merlin. I too have had to kill or to hold animals while they were put to death and each time is worse than the last.

I agree with you too that the land and nature will always adapt and recover not, maybe, to exactly as it was but to a new way of living.

Jenni

"Big business making money" strikes a chord, the Lake District and especially Windermere is highly commercial with the inevitable clash with the wildlife, in this case it is the Canada Geese who must pay the price.

My other concern is that the numbers quoted for the Geese has been greatly exaggerated, I have persuaded a good friend of mine to take me on a survey of Windermere Lake by boat to count the Canada Geese, so if there are people still interested I will let you know the result.

For all that has been said about crop destruction, loss of livestock etc  and presently I cannot confirm or deny that, I cannot accept that healthy wild animals have to be killed. The Geese have been successfully controlled in other areas by non lethal methods. The abundance of wildlife and birdlife in the Lake District is something to celebrate and protect and if you don't think so then you are living in the wrong place.

You may get some idea of the number of birds from the annual Cumbrian bird report,could save you some work and it would take more than one trip by one person to get an accurate count.There may be other ways of deterring the birds but I would have thought the National Park would look at them first before settling on killing the birds.

Hi-

here's devil's advocate :)

Canada geese are an ornamental spp gone wild. To me culling them is slightly less offensive than culling  Ruddy Ducks because they ( birds from britain)  alledgedly polluted the gene pool of White headed Ducks in Spain.

The RSPB went along with the RD cull so the Canada Geese are unlikely to get different treatment.

S

ps- because we have no large mammal predators anymore we have a deer population explosion - possibly aided by introduced Muntjac and Chinese water deer that are probably a major factor in the decline of Nightingales due to underbrush grazing.

S  pps - Now is that a case for re-introducing the wolf.

Twitchy -  Canadas are kept down in this area by oiling the eggs.

Thanks Seaman, will take a look at it but still doing my own survey-I think the numbers may have been deliberately inflated to facilitate the cull