A response to Feeding Ban/Goose Control Protesters

I spend a lot of time reading articles about the feeding bans around the world. In New York, Simcha Felder is meeting a lot of resistance from people who love pigeons. Similarly, when communities are dealing with Canada Goose infestations, people are horrified. The comment that I hear most often is: "Humans made this situation; now we should put up with it."

I have to say I have a real problem with this attitude.

These individuals aren't thinking deeply about how people affect pigeons or other birds. While feeding pigeons might seem like a loving act it is really very harmful. By feeding them, we are stripping them of their food gathering instincts. The longer this goes on, the more damaging our effect on bird populations will be. Beyond the superficial "full" feeling, we are not doing anything good for pigeon health. When we feed birds, we feed them commercial bird seed, white bread, popcorn, etc. We aren't feeding them the foods they need to be healthy. We are filling them up on empty calories so they are not motivated to look for healthy food choices.

In terms of Canada Goose populations, people say that even non-lethal methods are "unnatural" and therefore shouldn't be used. Instead, these individuals would prefer that we leave the goose population alone and just let things unfold without intervention. Let me tell you something...the current goose population is not natural. In fact, until recently, Canada Geese were endangered until the 1960's. Thanks to "unnatural" conservation efforts we have revived the population. Now, the Canada Goose population is expanding by 15% each year. Because many of the birds involved in conservation never learned to migrate a lot of the birds stay in the United States year-round rather than making the return to Canada for summer. This puts a very unnatural stress on land that has never dealt with such huge wildlife populations. There simply aren't enough resources in some of the areas that Canada Geese have chosen to live in. Furthermore, to those who claim that geese are being pushed out of their natural habitat by urbanization I offer this line of reasoning: First of all, there is still PLENTY of undeveloped land. The fact is, that geese prefer to live by people because we construct artificial lakes with high surrounding visibility which makes them feel safe, there is a steady source of food, and there are virtually no predators. Despite the fact that geese are attracted to the habitats we've made for ourselves, they are perfectly capable of fending for themselves. There is no reason why we should hesitate to discourage geese from depending on us and living on our land.

Why Killing Birds Doesn't Stop them From Infesting your Property

This seems kind of strange to most people. Killing a bird is the most permanent way to get rid of it, right? Well, only sort of. Using lethal methods will permanently keep that specific bird away but I think it's safe to assume that your issue is with birds in general rather than a personal vendetta. Think about this: your problem is that birds like the environment that you provide. The birds that you encounter are simply a symptom of that problem, not the problem itself. If you solve for the issue of the specific birds you see by killing them, you're just leaving prime real estate open for the next flock that comes along. To be sure, that void will be filled and you'll be trapped in an endless cycle.

The key here is to address the environment rather than the birds themselves. Make the environment unappealing (address the senses: visual, auditory, taste, smell) and use physical barriers (like netting or spikes) if necessary.

An important side note on this topic: a huge number of birds (like the Canada Goose) are protected by the Migratory Bird act of 1918 which makes it illegal to kill them or even tamper with their nests. So, even if your issue is with a species like pigeons you really do not want to leave poisoned seed out (or anything like that) because you could accidentally affect one of the protected species and get in BIG TROUBLE with governmental agencies and the nice people over at PETA. Luckily there are cruelty free, humane bird control methods available so you can get rid of even the most stubborn Canada Goose.