Canada geese curbing project complete

LYNN – A total of 89 Canada geese eggs were successfully addled by the city last week – up from 69 eggs last year – in an effort to curb a growing number of the unmanageable birds.The egg addling method includes taking the egg, placing it in corn oil, and then putting it back in the nest, which interferes with the oxygen exchange and ceases the egg’s ability to grow.The cost of the process is roughly $500 for supplies.A small portion of a Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) grant to improve water quality and reduce various types of vegetation at Flax and Sluice ponds was given to the egg-addling project.Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi said the three- to five-year addling program could potentially remove up to 400 goslings if roughly 80 eggs are located each year.”I love wildlife, but when you have hundreds of birds congregating, you have a big mess,” he said. “People are basically feeding them and interfering with the natural process, and the birds are becoming regionalized. Fifteen years ago there was a much smaller population of the birds.”Lozzi said the eggs were located at Sluice and Cedar ponds following a study of where the birds tend to pair up and breed.Additional eggs may have been addled at Flax pond and in the area of the General Electric building by Lynn Woods Forest Ranger Dan Small, but Lozzi said the actual number of eggs is not yet known.According to Lozzi, the root of the problem lies with residents and visitors feeding the geese, which in turn entices the geese to stick around and continue to breed.Public outcry over people feeding the birds has taken over the city, with arguments on both sides justifying why and why not the birds should be fed.”The little old ladies that are feeding the geese think they’re helping them, but they’re not,” he said. “The birds are lovely creatures to look at, but they shouldn’t be fed.”Lozzi said he, Animal Control Officer Kevin Farnsworth and Lynn Water & Sewer Superintendent Richard Dawe formed a committee of city officials that includes Health Department Director Mary Ann O’Connor and Small to target the overpopulation of geese.The addling process is performed once a year in the spring when the geese mate.Lozzi said he had hoped residents near the ponds would have called him to let him know if they had seen two geese together – a strong indication of nesting – but didn’t receive any calls.”We noticed indications that the geese were well fed along the ponds, and that is really just cruel for people to do to them,” he said. “It’s disrupting the natural order.”Sanctioned by the MSPCA, egg addling has also been approved by the DCR and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.A permit is required by the Fish and Wildlife Agency to allow for Canada geese eggs to be addled.