Crying Fowl: Village Wants To Trap, Gas Geese; Animal Lovers Form Petition

OCONOMOWOC LAKE, WI — A small village in Wisconsin is tired of getting crapped on.

According to village officials, Oconomowoc Lake is literally being overrun by Canada Geese, so much so that "gaggles of geese" are causing problems all over the village.

The overabundance of geese has resulted in village officials partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to round up and kill the geese this June. The apparent method involves trapping the geese and euthanizing them with gas. That move has drawn the ire of many animal lovers and has given rise to an online petition to protect the ubiquitous waterfowl.

"People try everything, from putting wires up on their yard to spraying -- the sprinklers with sensors that'll see them and hit them with water," Oconomowoc Lake Village Administrator Donald Weimersaid in a WISN report. Reports indicate that the number of geese has steadily increased to the point where areas have become inundated with the common fowl.

Weimer estimated that if local geese crapped up to one pound a day and there were 100 geese in the area, that it would amount to 36,000 pounds of goose droppings a year. "People are just getting tired of their property getting crapped up," he said in the WISN report.

Meanwhile, animal lovers in Wisconsin are flocking to multiple Care2 petitions urging local authorities not to round up and exterminate geese. Locals have started petitions to stop the geese culls, including the one planned for Oconomowoc Lake. That petition, which has gained 15,376 supporters (a fraction of which - 784 - are from Wisconsin) can be found here.

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