I recently visited the Cultus Lake Main Beach with my family as we have every year for the past few years. I am disgusted at the uncleanliness we found. There was not one area of the beach or grassy area that wasn’t covered in goose feces.
As I, too, am a proud Canadian and understand that the Canada goose is an iconic symbol of this nation, I believe the protection of this animal has created an over populated nuisance. They congregate on our golf courses and beaches and parks and defecate all over, creating a hazardous environment for all. I could not step anywhere without having to avoid a pile of unsanitary, possibly disease laden goose droppings.
Do we not have ways to have these birds routed somewhere they can roam without causing unsafe, unclean environments for our children and citizens? At the very least we should have parks crews cleaning up the areas daily so we can use our parks without having to deal with this mess. Every year I see the same mess with no effort to clean up the area.
I understand that these birds are protected, but surely we can do better than let them run wild on public beaches where young children go to enjoy playing and swimming and picnicking. I rarely complain about issues with government departments but our parks and rec department has definitely let this one fly the coop!
M. Dunbar
