The disturbing sight of a flock of dead Canada geese floating in a ditch in the Lower Mainland is being investigated by the BC Conservation Officers Service.
Numerous Pitt Meadows residents called to report the dead birds floating in the water alongside Rannie Road, near Pitt Lake.
READ MORE: 40 Canada geese carcasses dumped on Vancouver Island
City crews will remove the carcasses of the 30 birds, which is the maximum number a hunter can possess. All had their breasts removed. There was a hunting opening on Canada geese from Feb. 10 to March 10. A nearby marsh is a known place for hunting geese.
By law, a hunter need only harvest the breast meat, said Conservation Officer Marc Plamondon, so he speculates they may have been legally killed by a hunter over a period of time, but illegally dumped.
“He took the meat, didn’t know what to do with these carcasses, and he dumped them,” is Plamondon’s theory.
It is an offence to unlawfully dump waste in the environment, and to dump carcasses beside the road because they will attract bears and other wildlife.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Report All Poachers and Polluters (RAPP) line at 1-877-952-7277.
