Cedar Rapids Considering Geese Hunting In City Limits

The city of Cedar Rapids has a geese problem. There are simply too many of the birds around. They're on bike trails, golf courses, and in the cities parks. Most of the time they're a nuisance, but they can also become a public safety risk.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says Cedar Rapids has around 2,000 geese which are too many for a city this size. The city is now considering for the first time, allowing hunting and harvesting Canadian geese in certain portions of the city. The meat would be donated to local food pantries under a plan being considered by the city.

Cedar Rapids has tried other geese control methods over the years, including relocating geese to distant Iowa lakes. But they keep coming back. Decoys and lasers have been tried. There are no geese feeding ordinances, but nothing seems to work.

The city would have to amend its current firearms ordinance to allow the hunting of waterfowl. The hunting would be allowed only south of highway 30 and west of Interstate 380. Properly licensed hunters would be able to use shotguns to harvest geese in September and certain dates in January. The city already allows deer hunting in those selected areas.

[via Gazette]