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Oliver likely to continue urban goose hunting program

Town council will decide whether to keep the program that has cut down on citizen goose complaints
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The Town of Oliver’s Town Offices, which the town wants to get designated a heritage site. (Black Press)

Oliver’s town council will be looking to renew their urban goose hunting program.

The program was started over a decade ago in 2010, with the intention of cutting down on the urban goose population in Oliver, particularly at Tucelnuit Lake and around the Oliver Airport.

Part of the impetus was complaints from residents over the growing urban goose population, which have gone down since hunting began being permitted.

Since the program began, on average the town has issued six permits for hunters in a season, who are required to provide the town with the number of kills and their locations.

READ MORE: Controversial Vernon goose cull won’t fly this year

The urban geese are considered an issue due to the fact that they do not migrate, and continue to nest in the area they were born for generation after generation, as well as contributing to water quality warnings for the lake and at beaches.

The town also supports the goose-addling program based out of Kelowna with $2,000 a year.

In the past three years of the program, according to the information submitted to the Canadian Wildlife Services’ Environment Stewardship Branch, there were 58 geese killed in 2020, 34 in 2019, and 51 in 2018. Of those geese, 45 were killed around the airport, and 74 were killed within the town’s boundaries.

Council will vote on whether to continue the program on Oct. 12.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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