City Government
Pollution Solution For Loose Goose
August 5, 2017 
GUARDIAN readers have long advocated assorted meal plans for Boise’s homeless population supplementing diets with fresh goose meat.
Canada geese overpopulate parks in Boise, Idaho, USA.
In Washington, D.C. the idea has apparently taken hold with the National Park Service. Here is a piece sent to us by a reader that addresses the problem of goose poop and feeding the hungry.
In typical “government-speak” the Canada goose population was reduced when geese were “captured and euthanized.” Ever hear of hunters “euthanizing” their prey?
The NATIONAL POST website has the details. According to the story, it seems they got only a pound of meat from each bird…must be full of goose feathers.
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Comments & Discussion
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© 2017 Boise Guardian. 
Aug 6, 2017, 6:42 am
Urban geese (and pigeons and others) are overpopulated. That overpopulation leads to wiping out food supplies, starvation, disease, and death. Letting that type of suffering happen is immoral. A predator – humans – are the most efficient and effective way to balance out the population. Responsible hunters also use as much of the harvest as possible – feeding the homeless is one good example.
An adult goose yields 2-3 pounds of meat, enough for 10 to 20 meals, so something is wrong with the harvest method or reporting if they say “just 1 pound”.
Aug 6, 2017, 7:52 am
Won’t work, at least as a food source.
Soon as you capture and “euthanize” a few in a city park the rest will make themselves very scarce. They’re not stupid.
Also, direct the cops to write tickets for people feeding them. Every single time I drive by the Ann Morrison pond there are people feeding them.
Aug 7, 2017, 10:29 am
Maybe that will change once the state takes over. Or maybe it has already—I haven’t worked out there a couple of years. But when I was there a few years ago it was an infestation. And the green goose poo covers the blacktop of their parking lots.
The ponds at HP were green and unpleasant from so many birds using it as their toilet. Watching the birds drink from that I doubt their meat would taste very good unless it is well seasoned and drowned in a strong sauce to mask that taste.
Aug 16, 2017, 12:05 pm
I have an excellent recipe for cherry wood smoked goose breast if anyone’s interested.
Sep 29, 2017, 4:50 pm
Like many who love this site I was born in Boise and have lived here the majority of my life. Like many I remember when there was no Ann Morrison Park, no Albertson’s Park. That was when there were more rural spaces in Boise, no green belt no idiots building on the known flood lands in Eagle/Boise and the geese and deer had plenty of space to live. (Thanks Harris Ranch)
Now we have built up those areas and are complaining about how the animals and birds are so messy in our spaces. Hey! Stop building out, build up. Well, that’s not going to happen.
I love the geese and the deer but am sorry that they have to deal with humans and their nasty cars, noise, rude behavior and unwillingness to share the planet. So kill everything that you don’t have in the zoo. See how that works out.
We have brilliantly paved over and built on great farmland so now we must import our food.
So as we used to say in the 60’s PAVE THE PLANET. See how that works out.