Geese May Be Health Concern

The city of Vernon will take a closer look into the number of Canada Geese on Kin Beach.

Councillor Scott Anderson says there is concerns it may be a health issue.

“(The concerns are) that it’s affecting the water quality, which is almost self-evidently true. What I have heard is that people would like to have it cleaned up,” Anderson told Kiss FM.

While Anderson wondered about a cull of the birds, Infrastructure Engineer Mark Dowhaniuk says the city is planning a study to examine water quality and fecal waste at Kin Beach, which could take three years.

“The genetic testing will match it to the origin – be it geese, ducks, humans, dogs, or cattle – we will be able to tell where the fecal matter is coming from” said Dowhaniuk.

Anderson says he doesn’t really care how its done, but he think action has to be taken sooner than three years.

“The method by which it’s  done, that’s up to the experts, but the end result would be fewer geese,” says Anderson.

Meantime, in a separate issue, the city may put up signs advising people to not feed bread to the ducks, geese, and birds in Polson Park.

“It was mentioned on social media that feeding bread to wild birds is not a good idea. Most people don’t know that, I didn’t know that until I heard it either,” says Anderson.