Community association defends Forest Lakes goose removal

By: Ted Strong | Daily Progress
Published: August 03, 2010

The Forest Lakes Community Association has defended the decision by aviation officials to kill Canada geese at the development earlier this summer.

“We gave it considerable consideration, and in the interest of human safety and accident prevention, we approved the request to conduct a humane roundup during the summer molt,” association President David W. Shifflett Jr. wrote in an e-mail response to questions from The Daily Progress.

During the molt, while the birds couldn’t fly, they were rounded up and taken away to be euthanized as part of a nationwide focus on wildlife that poses safety hazards at airports. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the crackdown after the “Miracle on the Hudson” flight, in which a pilot ditched in the Hudson River after geese took out his engines. The river landing saved all passengers aboard.

Almost 90 geese were collected from the area around the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, which includes Forest Lakes. The airport is paying the U.S. Department of Agriculture $15,000 for a year’s worth of wildlife control, according to airport officials.

The birds had been increasing in numbers rapidly, according to Shifflett. Some Forest Lakes residents have argued the geese were part of what made the development nice.

The association’s response didn’t sit well with some residents, who spoke out against the killing at a recent association board meeting.

“This sounds about like what we would have expected, nothing less, nothing more,” said Ken Waxman.

His wife, Antje, said that more should be done to find non-lethal solutions.

“My opinion is killing is no solution,” she said. “There will be other geese coming back to Forest Lakes. Forest Lakes offers a perfect habitat for geese.”

She said existing non-lethal programs at the development aren’t robust enough.

Shifflett’s e-mail mentioned those efforts, which are an annual egg-addling campaign and goose-deterrent strobe lighting. He wrote that relocation wasn’t an option, since the geese would simply have flown back to Forest Lakes.

He wrote that the geese created a “potentially deadly situation” and few residents had objected.

“We received only a small amount of feedback from residents regarding the roundup,” he wrote.

The airport’s executive director, Barbara Hutchinson, has written that the airport doesn’t expect another culling to be necessary in the next five years.

Community association defends Forest Lakes goose removal

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