How Mississauga geese became New Brunswick’s big problem

By

Published May 16, 2022 at 12:00 pm

Canada geese

New Brunswick has a big problem with Canada geese–and Mississauga is at least partially responsible.

Back in the early-to-mid 1990s, the City of Mississauga and other Southern Ontario municipalities, including Toronto, were only too happy to accept an offer from the east coast province to ship hundreds, thousands of the large nuisance birds to New Brunswick.

Prior to that time, Canada geese had for decades been rarely spotted in that part of the country.

Fast-forward nearly three decades and today the City of Moncton, New Brunswick is kept constantly busy–as it has for years now–with public complaints of large amounts of goose poop and aggressive Canada geese in parks and on trails.

Estimates suggest a typical goose will poop several times an hour, up to 20 times a day. So, a couple dozen of the birds can make a big, big mess–affecting the ability of people to enjoy the outdoor public spaces.

That’s exactly what prompted Mississauga officials to relocate large numbers of their geese back in the 1990s, a practice that continues annually to this day.

Check out this video of a woman who was attacked by a Canada goose in Brampton in 2020.

These days, though, Mississauga transports hundreds of the bothersome birds each June not to eastern Canada, but to the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Kingsville, Ontario, near Windsor.

In a joint operation, Mississauga and Oakville between them send about 1,000 Canada geese to the southwestern Ontario community each year.

They’ve been doing so since 2019. Prior to that, Mississauga and Oakville had sent their unwanted geese to an Aylmer, Ont. sanctuary for years. However, that site began to ran out of room, prompting the municipalities to seek a new spot to send the birds.

So, why did New Brunswick step up to take Ontario’s geese back in the 1990s if the downside to being home to the large birds is so obvious?

The provincial government there thought New Brunswick’s large population of hunters would keep the Canada geese numbers in check. More than 4,000 Canada geese from Ontario were introduced to the area in the mid-1990s in an effort to create a population for hunting.

Back in Ontario, it’s estimated that today there are some 250,000 Canada geese in the Golden Horseshoe area alone.

Mississauga’s Canada Goose Management Program aims to keep the population somewhat under control in the city, allowing people to better enjoy the parks.

The Canada geese have created issues for Mississauga and its residents since the 1990s, most notably at waterfront parks where their huge numbers have allowed them to overrun the areas.

The large birds also destroy grassy areas and they’ve shown themselves to be an overall detriment to park lands, Mississauga officials have said over the years.

While officials note their efforts over the years have resulted in “an overall decrease in the annual goose populations,” large numbers of the birds still don’t appear to be going anywhere.

“(There are) still significant numbers of geese annually, with increased populations being identified in other areas of the city other than the waterfront,” a City official said in an earlier email to insauga.com, adding staff continue to receive complaints from residents about the geese populations in their communities.

insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising