Waikato District Council to poison geese to save Huntly sports field

Some 180 Canada geese at Huntly's Lake Hakanoa will be killed off later this month. Photo / Waikato District Council

Waikato District Council will lure the flock of Canada geese at Huntly Domain to their death by hand feeding them food pellets laced with poison.

The council has made the decision to kill off the 180 geese at Lake Hakanoa due to them eating the grass on the domain and ruining the nearby soccer fields.

A goose can eat about 1kg of grass including roots and produce up to 1kg of excrement a day, according to the council.

As well as the growing number of weeds on the field, the council was also concerned the amount of poo on the fields posing a health risks to players.

The council says baiting the geese is a last resort and comes after a series of unsuccessful attempts to keep the geese away including installing low fencing and a chemical spray that acts as a repellent.

Shooting the geese was ruled out as being ineffective especially due to them being flighty at this time of year.

The baiting will happen between June 14-18 and a contractor will feed the birds poison and remain on site while it takes effect and will then immediately collect the dead birds.

It takes a maximum of half an hour for the bait to work, during this time the contractor remains on site to monitor the birds, tracking any affected birds that move outside the control area.

Waikato District Council community connections manager Megan May said it was a difficult decision.

"The damage the geese do to the neighbouring sports fields means that we may have to spend up to $10,000 on re-sowing them if no action is taken, and the risk to human health for those using the fields is becoming too great."

SAFE campaigns manager Jessica Chambers said it was a short-sighted approach and the council should instead by looking at relocating and rehoming the geese.

"Culling these birds will simply make space for more geese to take their place, creating an annual cycle of more killing.

"Local councils should be creating population management plans to ensure mass cullings don't become the only option they're willing to consider."