Express & Star

Culling of Canada geese in Sandwell parks to stop... for now

The culling of geese in Sandwell will stop following a campaign that saw a 4,000-name petition handed into the council.

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A total of 220 Canada geese have been culled over the past two years in Tipton's Victoria Park and Dartmouth Park, West Bromwich.

At a scrutiny meeting, it was announced new measures will be undertaken by Sandwell Council to monitor geese numbers and culling will now be stopped.

A handful of activists who attended the special meeting were told a cull could still happen in the future, however, and they spoke of their frustration.

One of the campaigners, Ian Carroll, said: "I'm obviously pleased it's been stopped but we've been given no assurances it will not happen again in the future.

"They've already previously admitted to killing 220 birds before the public consultation in September and October last year even started. This whole issue has been of the council's own wrongdoing.

"The fight is not over, we will continue to strive to see culling permanently stopped in all parks across Sandwell."

New measures that will be introduced include re-locating pathways, bird scarer devices and the continuation of pricking and oiling of eggs are being proposed by the council.

The council had previously said geese numbers had 'got out of control', with more than 1,000 of them grazing in Sandwell parks and advised its culling methods were in line with Natural England, the body that advises the Government on the environment.

Councillor Maria Crompton, in charge of the environment at the council, said: "We are not considering culling at this present time, but it's something we cannot rule out for the future.

"We are happy with the numbers of Canadian geese in Sandwell parks at this stage. We have listened to the concerns of activists and taken the petition very seriously.

"We've done what they've asked us to do and the proposed measures to control the population of the geese are fair.

"People need to be considered in this issue as well as the geese. We've had many complaints of excrement being a huge problem, as well geese acting very aggressively to park visitors.

"Nobody loves animals more than me – I've felt very strongly towards this topic and the decision is in everybody's best interests. As for the future, it is not for me to say that culling won't happen again. We will continue to monitor the numbers very closely."

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