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Winnipeg Free Press

Threatening geese a serious fowl, judge advises woman out $300 after cellphone video cooks her goose

This one's for the birds. They leave city sidewalks and parks slick with poop, bring traffic to a standstill when they waddle lazily across the roadway and honk angrily at anyone who has the nerve to get in their way. We speak of the Canadian Goose. PHIL HOSSACK / FREE PRESS FILES A Winnipeg woman learned the hard way that Canadian geese are nationally protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. The woman admitted to 'harrassing' a nesting goose and it earned her a $300 fine. The nationally protected bird has cost one frustrated Winnipeg woman a $300 fine after she admitted to 'harassing' a nesting goose, an offence under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. The now-20-year-old woman was trying to visit a friend at a Henderson Highway apartment in May 2024 when a nesting goose blocked her car's path, Crown attorney Joan Schmidt told court. The woman threw a bottle of leather cleaner and a pylon at the bird in an effort to chase it away. 'Canadian geese are protected under legislation, so if you throw things at them to move them off where they are, that is under the definition of harassing,' Schmidt said. An area resident recorded the incident on her cellphone and forwarded it to the Conservation Officer Service a day later. An environment officer tracked down the owner of the vehicle seen on the video, who confirmed his daughter had been driving it that night. In an interview with an environment officer the following day, the woman admitted to her involvement, saying 'she was not in her right head space' after just learning she was pregnant. The woman told court last month she wasn't trying to harm the bird. 'I tried to get into my friend's apartment and they were in the way,' said the woman, who was accompanied to court by her mother. 'I was just trying to move them, I was trying to scare it away,' she said. 'You understand that they are protected birds?' provincial court Judge Kelly Moar asked the woman. 'Now I know,' she said. However frustrating geese might be, 'you have to bide your time, be patient,' Moar said. 'Patience is a good thing to learn, anyway,' he said. The woman was not represented in court by a lawyer. The woman and her mother resisted a suggestion earlier in the hearing that they seek legal advice, saying they had already been to court three times on the matter and just wanted to 'clear it off' and pay the fine. 'As frustrating as geese can sometimes be… because they can be aggressive, especially when they are nesting… they are protected in Canada and you just have to work around them.'– Crown attorney Joan Schmidt 'We just want this to end,' the woman's mother told court. 'We don't want to waste any more time.' Schmidt said the standard fine for the offence is $740, but told Moar a lower fine would be sufficient to send a message to the woman and the community that the rights of the birds must be respected. 'As frustrating as geese can sometimes be — because they can be aggressive, especially when they are nesting — they are protected in Canada and you just have to work around them,' Schmidt said. Winnipeg city councillor Vivian Santos said she receives complaints about geese each year. 'Most of the time, the complaints that come in are usually around the retention ponds. That's where a lot of the geese will come and lay their eggs, and then… it ends up becoming what looks like hundreds (of them),' said Santos (Point Douglas). 'They create a bit of a mess.' The councillor noted provincial rules are in place to help conserve geese, in addition to federal laws. Noting geese can be aggressive, the councillor said the city requires developers to 'naturalize' retention ponds, which helps deter the birds. 'We've changed our standards of our ponds. So, you'll see they'll have cattails now and naturalized grass,' said Santos. She said the city has obtained federal permits at times in the past to remove goose eggs from nests on major roadways to reduce safety concerns. 'The only way that the City of Winnipeg will cull the eggs… is if they're noticing that they're in high-traffic locations, which (can) cause accidents, because people will tend to slow down and not want to hit them.'– Winnipeg city councillor Vivian Santos 'The only way that the City of Winnipeg will cull the eggs… is if they're noticing that they're in high-traffic locations, which (can) cause accidents, because people will tend to slow down and not want to hit them,' said Santos. In an email, city spokeswoman Pam McKenzie said the City of Winnipeg doesn't officially track the number of complaints it receives about geese. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. 'Anecdotally, the number of complaints we do receive is very low. Geese are protected under the Migratory Birds Act and are under federal jurisdiction,' wrote McKenzie. Despite many geese gathering at Memorial Park recently, a provincial government spokesman said the department that manages that park has received no complaints about the waterfowl this year. In an email, the spokesman noted a 'squawk box' audio device was installed to deter geese from the property in 2022. Visitors are advised not to feed the birds. Dean PritchardCourts reporter Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read full biography Joyanne PursagaReporter Born and raised in Winnipeg, Joyanne loves to tell the stories of this city, especially when politics is involved. Joyanne became the city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press in early 2020. 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