West Kelowna residents outraged after geese shot, decapitated

A Canada geese cull in a West Kelowna neighbourhood has some residents calling foul.

Diana Bertucci was alarmed when she was out for a walk in West Kelowna and a man pulled up in a white van, headed to a nearby field, and started shooting.

Bertucci said the man started shooting at Canada geese on a nearby field.

“So then I said, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’” she said.

Bertucci said the man showed her a permit to shoot the birds.

“I said OK, we’re going to call the RCMP. So we called the RCMP, and they said, ‘Yeah, nope, he’s got a permit. Don’t worry about it.’”

Bertucci said the man then climbed the fence and grabbed the bodies of the dead birds.

“He pulled their heads off with his hands, and then left the heads in the field. And I asked him about that, and he said, ‘Well, if I leave the heads in the field, the other geese won’t come back’,” she said. “Well guess what? The next day the geese were back.”

“He had blood all over him — he had blood on his hands, he had blood down his shirt.”

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Canada’s Migratory Bird Convention recognizes that birds, such as Canada geese, can cause damage or danger. Permits can be issued for the birds to be killed under the act.

Bertucci said she’s not against other measures of controlling the geese population but takes issue with shooting them in a public area.

“My main concern is the optics of the situation, how it’s traumatizing people,” she said.

“There’s got to be a better way to handle some geese in the field.”

Those walking in the neighbourhood largely agreed.

“To have someone who has a gun that can shoot like this in a public area if there’s children or family around, that’s actually very scary,” tourist Raymonde Foyster said.

“It’s inexcusable, truly. I think the law needs to be changed,” Brenda Irvin, another tourist, said.

The owners of the property declined an interview but said the Canada geese on their property compete with their horses for feed, and reiterated that the killings were carried out under the proper permits.

West Kelowna RCMP confirmed at least one person has the proper permits to cull geese.

“Police would only become involved if the firearms were to be mishandled or used in a manner dangerous or threatening to the general public,” Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said in a statement.

RCMP also said it is common practice for them to be notified when a person plans to discharge a firearm under those circumstances.