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Citizen complaint of the day: Riverside park overrun by geese, skateboarders

A disgusted citizen files a 311 complaint about conditions in the Nashua Street Park, which runs along the Charles River behind Nashua Street:

This park is overridden with geese, they've eaten all of the grass and we can no longer picnic here. It's covered in feces and also often has large amounts of trash due to the skateboarders that frequent it. There has always been a large ugly yellow floatation device along the waterfront too. It really needs some TLC!

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Comments

Do battle with the pesky skateboarders a couple of years ago and surrender to the Anarchists?

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Geese have completely ruined the parks as usable public spaces in the Fenway. They are a federally protected species.

I wish someone would file legislation to give humans protection from the geese.

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The friends of the Esplanade use a team of trained collies to chase the geese away. So, naturally, they fly to the Fenway, a considerably less affluent neighborhood than the Back Bay, where they can destroy the parks in peace.

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You're joking, right? There are tons of geese at the Public Garden! Also, Fenway is quite expensive... maybe not for people like yourself with deep pockets of course. Furthermore, Fenway Fens is the perfect place for geese: they've got the windy muddy river, Victory Gardens, plenty of open space, lots vegetation for food and for nesting, and people who frequent the Fens feed the geese. It's much more attractive for geese in Fenway than anything in the Back Bay.

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Geese aren’t federally protected.

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To legally hunt Canada geese, you need the federal and state permits, and you have to do it in hunting season.

There are government programs to cull the goose population, but it's not as simple as someone deciding that there are too many geese somewhere. You can't just poison them, even if you could figure out a way to do that and not risk harming any of the many birds that are federally protected.

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If someone grabbed a goose on the Esplanade and wrung it’s neck, they would not face federal charges.

Now, there would most likely be state charges, but that is due to the means of execution, and possibly violating other hunting regulations. Same as grey squirrels (which also have a hunting season.)

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Yes, they are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

https://www.fws.gov/birds/faqs.php

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They can be hunted (see page 40) which implies that killing them, in the right circumstances, is okay.

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People have been charged with federal offenses under the migratory bird act for doing just that.

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Relevant law is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/migtrea.html
https://www.fws.gov/birds/policies-and-regulations/laws-legislations/mig...

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the take (including killing, capturing, selling, trading, and transport) of protected migratory bird species without prior authorization by the Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Canada Goose listed here:

https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=b85587342ebe4f607983dfb6d1e074...

Penalties described here:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/707

Except as otherwise provided in this section, any person, association, partnership, or corporation who shall violate any provisions of said conventions or of this subchapter, or who shall violate or fail to comply with any regulation made pursuant to this subchapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $15,000 or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both

Who can enforce this law?
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/706

Any employee of the Department of the Interior authorized by the Secretary of the Interior to enforce the provisions of this subchapter shall have power, without warrant, to arrest any person committing a violation of this subchapter in his presence or view and to take such person immediately for examination or trial before an officer or court of competent jurisdiction; shall have power to execute any warrant or other process issued by an officer or court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of the provisions of this subchapter; and shall have authority, with a search warrant, to search any place. The several judges of the courts established under the laws of the United States, and United States magistrate judges may, within their respective jurisdictions, upon proper oath or affirmation showing probable cause, issue warrants in all such cases. All birds, or parts, nests, or eggs thereof, captured, killed, taken, sold or offered for sale, bartered or offered for barter, purchased, shipped, transported, carried, imported, exported, or possessed contrary to the provisions of this subchapter or of any regulation prescribed thereunder shall, when found, be seized and, upon conviction of the offender or upon judgment of a court of the United States that the same were captured, killed, taken, sold or offered for sale, bartered or offered for barter, purchased, shipped, transported, carried, imported, exported, or possessed contrary to the provisions of this subchapter or of any regulation prescribed thereunder, shall be forfeited to the United States and disposed of by the Secretary of the Interior in such manner as he deems appropriate.

So keep your hands off the geese. Or go to jail.

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"Geese" isn't a species, but if we're talking about our ubiquitous Canada Geese, they are: https://fws.gov/birds/policies-and-regulations/laws-legislations/migrato...

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When cattle grazed on the Common and horse drawn carriages would leave a trail of droppings on the streets

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the horseshit just comes outta those studios at the top of Park Street

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complaining about skateboarders frequenting the pathways which lead to a skate park is pretty special. guess they're supposed to teleport there?

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If the problem is people skateboarding where they're not supposed to, no teleportation is necessary. They can walk and carry their skateboards.

Or if the problem is littering by skateboarders, they can just not litter.

See? No teleportation necessary.

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for all u dweebz

#eggsreport

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https://youtu.be/2CLIL-381Lw

This is an older video but explains what needs to happen every spring: egg oiling. It really falls on the land owner or whomever manages the property to do it.

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Not sure they did any oiling this year - there were a ton of goslings this Spring.

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Wow.

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A little goose poop is nether a crime nor a song by The Beach Boys.

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