A GOLF club is in such a flap over an 'invasion' of Canadian geese it is threatening to SHOOT them.
Staff at Didsbury Golf Club are planning to take the drastic measures because the nuisance birds have been leaving droppings near greens and tearing up grass as they forage for worms and daddy long legs larvae.
Animal lovers are horrified at the club's plans and say the club should find more humane ways of keeping the birds off their land.
But club manager Allan Watson said: "We're thinking of getting rid of them. We are entitled to shoot them as long as we take the carcasses away.
"We get 50 or 60 that come here all at once. There have been some instances when they've stopped balls getting to the greens and players get really annoyed.
"It's been going on for years. We've put up with it but there does come a time when enough is enough."
Club member Geoff Garnett said: "We started off with three or four but now we get 30 or 40. They leave their droppings right in front of the greens and rip up the grass looking for worms. They're a nuisance - they just won't move."
It's not the first time Didsbury Golf Club has been plagued by mischievous birds.
Two weeks ago we reported how crows had been stealing food and golf balls from players' club bags by undoing the zips.
The crafty birds sometimes release the balls mid-flight, dropping them 'like bombs' on players' heads.
Though there's not much the club can do about the crows, managers say they can get rid of the geese by invoking new laws governing the culling of nuisance birds on 'health and safety grounds'.
They say that by shooting some of the birds they'll be doing other clubs a favour too.
At Northenden Golf Club - where a host of Manchester United legends including Denis Law and David Sadler play - more than 40 birds often fly onto the course from their nesting place at nearby Lake Loonts.
Manager Phil Powell said: "They tear up the grass and the greens and generally make an enormous mess. We get huge groups of them that drop down in a flock.
"They peck and ruin everything they get their beaks on. We try and chase them away but they're back again soon enough. Our members are getting really annoyed."
At Withington Golf Club, more than 50 Canadian geese are often seen defecating and sunning themselves on the 18-hole course.
In fact, the only private-members club that hasn't been affected in our area is Chorlton. Club secretary Ian Booth said: "They fly right over us and don't seem to want to bother our club. It's a relief because I know they've been causing a real mess with their droppings."
Bird-lover Alan Hill, a wildlife expert from Didsbury, said: "I'm not quite sure how the club can say the birds are causing a nuisance by picking the grass.
"But, unfortunately, leaving droppings on the grass and the greens does constitute a health hazard, which would entitle them to shoot the birds."
He added: "It would be very regrettable if they had to resort to shooting them - there must be other measures they could take to keep the geese off the golf course. At the end of the day, if you put a golf course in a river valley you expect birds to take advantage of the habitats around the river."
A spokesman for the Mersey Valley wardens, which oversees wildlife conservation in the area, said: "The birds can be a problem. For instance, they defecate in the river, which has led to higher nitrate levels. We have a licence to cull them in the Mersey Valley but in the past we have chosen to prick the eggs instead."
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said: "They'll need a licence from the Rural Development Service to shoot them, but if the birds are just a nuisance it won't get them one. They need to prove it's a health and safety risk."
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Paul Timpson, Didsbury, Manchester (12/03/2006 at 22:00)
Those looking to justify the killing of Canadian geese turn to the use of scare tactics with remarkable predictability. The strategy involves creating the illusion that Canadian geese are a threat to public health. The mere assertion that a 'health issue' exists has been an effective way to generate fear about the presence of Canadian geese and an artificial urgency about what must be done. The origin of this information can usually be traced to something they were told by one or other unqualified parties
In most cases, the health scare does not involve the geese per se, but rather, their droppings. The basis of the argument is that Canadian geese must be killed because their droppings contain human pathogens (disease-causing bacteria). Canadian geese are not carriers of micro organisms (pathogens) that significantly threaten public health.
To date, there are no known cases where human illness can be ascribed to geese droppings. Indeed, only a few diseases can be transmitted to humans from birds.
Thus, it appears that the primary concern is that they are getting in the way when your members try and play.
Canadian geese do not pose a health threat even remotely serious enough to justify their mass destruction.
There are many humane alternative methods of population control. (A good book to read on these methods is: Living with Urban Wildlife by John Bryant ISBN 0 900001 49 6).
Have you tried any of these? The Wildlife and Countryside Act states that anyone applying for a licence to kill Canada geese must be satisfied that non-lethal methods of population control are either ineffective or impracticable before a licence to cull can be relied on. If you haven't attempted non-lethal measures, then you are laying yourself open to legal action.
* Culling is inhumane and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy: a percentage of wounded and suffering birds is inevitable.
* Culling is also very expensive; has to be repeated regularly; and is very unpopular with the general public
If the golf clubs named still intend to shoot the geese, many members of the NWHSA will use all their skills and non-violent direct action tactics to stop this needless cull of wildlife.
Yours
Paul Timpson
North West Hunt Saboteurs Association
PO Box 239
Manchester
M14 7XB
http://www.nwhsa.org.uk
info@nwhsa.org.uk
M Stoneman, Suffolk (13/03/2006 at 10:15)
Liz, Manchester (20/03/2006 at 17:52)
KJM, Manchester (27/03/2006 at 12:09)
Shame on the golf clubs that want to cull the birds. Surely dodging the bird poo will show what a good golfer you are.
Come on, don't drive another species to extinction.
KJM
Manchester
NickHoskins, Ashtead, Surrey (01/04/2006 at 10:05)
A) I fully understand and support the Golf Club in trying to find a way round the problem of bird droppings. We have a similar problem at our club.
B) As a club we enjoy looking at the swans, cootes, moorhens and even Canada Geese, when on the water. We don't mind the geese using our hard to stand on however, all our members object to substantial quantities of droppings on the hard near the water. Who would want to spend half a day in a boat with poo droppings on ones shoes and in one's boat?
C) The first 3 letters in the paper responding to this article would appear to be from 'romantics' who like the 'pritty birds' but actually have no idea as to the problems they cause.
The last letter is from an obvious, and proud to be, extreemist. This writer is, in my view, incapable of accepting any argument other than his own.
D)To each of your 4 correspondants I would ask then to imagine themselves living in a house with a garden. In that house they live with their family and 2 or 3 young children, say 4 to 7 years old.
Now imagine that garden has a pond which attracts geese and those geese deficate all over the lawn which comes to within 10 feet of your house. And when I say all over the lawn I mean that there is seldom more that 1 foot between droppings.
Can each of the above correcpondants explain how they would regain the use of their gardens each time the children wished to go out to play.
E) As Harbourmaster I have been asked to tackle this problem because of the potential threat of Bird Flu and the risk to members, guests and children who use the club.
F) If anyone has come up with a simple inanimate deterrant please let me know at Nick@Care4Free.net.
May peace be amongst all animals; including extreemists!