This business park in Cambridge has resorted to completely ineffective mass culling to deal with a Canada Goose problem.  They failed to contact or consult PICAS even though we are 20 minutes away from the park.  The management has vowed to cull extensively as and when the birds return be it again this year or next year.  We have spoken to the management and they are simply not interested in looking at humane and effective control systems - it is cheap and easy to kill the birds and they will continue to do it.  They are not concerned with public opinion and made it clear that any protests from minority groups (animal rights groups specifically) were not an issue.  The management even employed the pest controllers in that are used to slaughter wildlife in the royal parks and seemed to think that this justified their actions.  Please try to find the time to email and phone them as they are going to continue with the slaughter as long as the geese visit the site and the geese will continue to visit the site.

Park Manager is: Roger Quince - email: [email protected]

Phone: 01223 893710

Project Manager for the Park: Bill Scott - email: [email protected]   [email protected]  please send to both email addresses

I have copied the piece from the Cambridge Evening News below.

Workers' outrage over cull

WORKERS at a Cambridgeshire business park were left outraged after wild geese feeding there were shot dead in a cull.

The birds, a flock of Canada geese, had been watched and cared for by staff at Granta Park in Great Abington after arriving at its lake a few months ago.

However, after their numbers swelled to about 200 at the height of the summer, concerns were raised by others at the site over the damage being done to seating and recreation areas by droppings.

Two weeks ago pest control specialists were called in to the park to destroy some of the birds in the hope others would be deterred.

But Wendy Abrams, an employee of one of the companies at the park, said she and a number of others were extremely upset about the cull.

She said: "So many people have been affected by this. These geese so trusted human beings that a handful of bread brought them to their death."

Ms Abrams added: "If you have a lake on site surely you expect wildlife.

"I feel privileged to have had the contact with these lovely creatures and disgusted to think about the way they perished."

Roger Quince, manager of the park, said previous attempts to deter the geese had proved unsuccessful, and the park felt it had to take the action.

He said: "No one likes doing this but these things have to be controlled.

"The geese are not native to this country, they are feral, and there is no natural control over them.

"It is a balancing job. They make a mess and are also a health hazard. It was a limited cull intended to deter the other geese, not reduce their numbers."

Mr Quince added: "This is a big problem experienced by many parks in the region, and we did consult with them over the best way to handle it. We also contacted other parties including the Wildlife Trust."

Published on 05 October 2002

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