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Natuurpunt puts down 300 Canada geese
Belgian nature organisation Natuurpunt recently euthanised about 300 Canada geese by gassing in Limburg province because the species is “harmful to nature”, writes De Morgen.
"We do not like to do this," says Hendrik Moeremans of Natuurpunt in the newspaper. Canada geese were initially introduced in Belgium for their looks. The large species with a black head immediately made itself at home in Belgium and reproduced in large numbers. However, the geese cause damage to agricultural crops and are a threat to native species. Also, geese feces can be hazardous to local flora and fauna.
"We must take our responsibility and keep the population under control," says Natuurpunt. "We euthanised the geese in a way that, in our view, causes the least amount of harm, and only after consultation with the province and the Nature and Forest Agency."
Local hunters' associations were disappointed by the decision. "They would rather have shot the animals, but the impact of the bullets on the surrounding nature would be too large," says Moeremans.
Comments
Love the reason why the hunters weren't allowed to have their very special type of "fun". Nature lovers all.
The article says they're an indigenous species. The whole point of this is that they are absolutely not indigenous.
Sterilizing them, cutting their feathers so that they couldn't escape and finding a forever home on various private properties would have been a better solution. It would probably have taken longer and been more expensive, but gassing 300 animals is really cruel... And I doubt 300 geese less in Limburg will make much of a difference in terms of damaging the crops.
Unnecessarily cruel and wasteful.
Their poop is insignificant when compared with the amount of dog poop on the streets of Brussels