The Overpopulation of the Snow Goose in North America
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to explore available research on the overpopulation of the Snow Goose on the North American continent. The snow goose has been rising in population since the middle of the century and has been escalating so much it is destroying their natural habitat. Wildlife managers have just recently begun to implement strategies to combat this problem. Mainly through the use of hunters the managers are trying to curb the population growth.
Introduction
There are three main species of Snow Goose of primary concern. The Lesser Snow Goose (LSGO) is the must abundant and at the same time most troublesome. Ross’ Goose (ROGO) is very similar to the Lesser and can only be distinguished by close observation. Both the Lesser and the Ross nest in salt marshes along Hudson Bay and then migrate down to the gulf coast states such as Texas and Louisiana. Their populations number in the millions. The third sub species is the Greater Snow Goose. They nest in the same marshes as the others except they migrate down the Atlantic Coast into the Carolinas and that vicinity. All three species have exploded in numbers since the 1950’s. Researchers have done a lot of study on the numbers and the degradation but may need to do more studies on the impact to other species and look for other options to control the populations.
Population Trends
The numbers of all "light" colored geese has been on the rise since data was first collected. The Lesser Snow Goose (LSGO) has drastically increased in number since data was first taken. Numbers range from around 800,000 in 1969 to as many as 6 million in 1996 (CWS 1999). While the Greater Snow Goose (GSGO) has risen in numbers from a few thousand to almost 500,000 (CWS 1999). This brief article did not provide much insight into actual numbers. Abraham and Jeffries in their report dig deeper and provide more significant and detailed population counts. Their numbers add in the Mid-winter index, which is the number of geese counted during mid-winter and referred to as MWI. Their numbers also have a count for Ross’ Goose (ROGO) which primarily flies with the (LSGO) and is very hard to distinguish (Abraham and Jeffries 1998). They too suggest the LSGO population to be aro...
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...s will need to kill over 900,000 geese a year for over a decade to make any kind of dent in the population (Hodge 1999). Some are skeptical that hunters can take that many birds to begin with, let alone the fact that to many that seems like a merciless slaughter of innocent animals.
Conclusion
It appears that one thing is very clear… there is an overpopulation of Snow Geese on the North American Continent. The situation is almost out of hand and something needs to be done fast. Although there has enough research on the fact that there are simply to many geese there really has not been enough on the impacts to other species, and what is the best way to take care of the problem. Both the US and the Canadian government seem to be on the right path to controlling this problem that humans have created. But more needs to be done. There just simply isn’t enough hunters around to take the proper amount of birds in a sporting manner. Wildlife managers are going to have to step in and take more radical measure to control this before its too late and we have lost all the habitat for the geese and all other habitants of the salt marshes of the Hudson Bay area.
...ed, J. M., Walters, J. R., Emigh, T. E., and Seaman, D. E. 1993. Effective population size in Red-cockaded Woodpeckers: population and model differences. Conservation Biology. 7(2):302-308.
More than ten years after the essay in our textbook, “For Environmental Balance, Pick up a Rifle,” first appeared in the NY Times, the author, Nickolas Kristof, continues to write for the NY Times as a columnist. This long-term relationship with The Gray Lady is quite an achievement for a writer in a tough market of New York readers. The original essay needed aggressive wording to grab attention of readers who peruse the paper while crowded into buses and trains. It is engaging, humorous, and compellingly holds the readers’ attention right through to the end. Kristof is correct in his claim that the solution to the deer over-population lies in thinning out the herds through hunting. Alternate methods of deer population management do not exist in the suburbs. We certainly do not want to restore the natural predators of deer, because humans would be on these predators’ menu, too. Deer food laced with contraceptives has limited effectiveness because deer migrate regularly over an area of up to 25 square miles. Therefore, the deer who ate the contraceptive might not be the deer who winter over in that area and give birth in spring. Once the medicinally-laced food is put out, no guarantee exists that deer would be the only ones to eat it.
Every day many species are slowly becoming either endangered or extinct and recently an endangered bird species called piping plovers, started nesting on Revere Beach. What would seem as a miraculous discovery, many are averse to their new inhabitants on the beach. Many Revere residents are complaining because the piping plovers now occupy parts of “their” beach. But in the article “Revere Beach should welcome the piping plover” The Editorial Board believes that the presence of the piping plover could be greatly beneficial to the city of Revere and I certainly agree. What led me to select this particular article is my concern for the many endangered species in the world like the piping plover. Human hands have led many species to become endangered
When people talk about deer, they are commonly talking about the North American Whitetail. That is because they are so prevalent in this country. They can be found in every state in the US. The only place where you will not find any whitetails is in parts of Arizona and California. In most states the whitetail is very prevalent, especially in the northeast. They are one of the most hunted animals in this area, particularly in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Despite the amount they are hunted, both in and out of season, you can not drive more than a few miles out of the towns without seeing one that was hit by a car. The deer population in this area just keeps growing. It is unclear what should be done to stop the over population of this beautiful creature. Perhaps different hunting seasons or longer seasons are the answer. Possibly we should focus more on the development of birth control for the female deer, or maybe repopulating wolves into the areas where the deer population is too great. Something has to be done.
ground and the young can fly at 1012 weeks. The adult Goose cannot fly while in
White tailed deer are the largest game animal in North America. This is due to their over abundance and annoyance to farmers. An average of 300000 deer are hunted down each year. A tragedy has been another 3000 are hit by cars every year. Many human efforts have been made to prevent these accidents, such as fencing and deer repellents near freeways, but many seem to think that hunting and controlling the population is the best way.
Populations of the white-tailed deer have increased in great numbers. These will increase if the death rate is low and the food supply is high. A single doe can reproduce every year until they die (7). Because of this, the average herd can double in size every two to three years (3). Deer are also adaptable to the changing ecosystem around them. The growing suburbs provide open lawns, the summer gardens, varieties of shrubs, and patches of forest cover. The population cannot be controlled naturally because natural predato...
8. Taylor, Dan. 1998. Audubon Society Inspired to Action by Bird Die -offs . 17 Jan. 1998 . E-mail . Available bkus@sunstroke.sdsu.edu
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Flocken endorses that “...hunters are not like natural predators.They target the largest specimens; with the biggest tusks, manes, antlers, or horns.” In Defense of Animals International (IDA) argues that hunters concentrate on“game” populations and ignore “non-game” species that may lead to overpopulation and unequal ecosystems. Therefore, it affects their ecosystem, and the animals’ families. Overall, the evidence proves trophy hunting hurts the environment, specifically conservation. Therefore, the hunters’ idea that trophy hunting actually helps conservation by killing some predators to maintain balance, is merely
...ughout much of their continent-wide breeding range is proof that to manage wildlife; you need to manage their ecosystems. Wet weather, combined with abundant nesting cover provided by the federal Conservation Reserve Program, have shown that wetland and grassland ecosystems are what make or break duck populations. The same is true for all other species, game and non-game. (R. Holmes). (1)
My goal is to have a proposed method in how farmers in the United States of America can change their agriculture practices to help benefit waterfowl on their migration, and to help address the issue of agriculture practices benefiting the overpopulation of snow geese as discussed in K.F. Abrahams article, High goose populations: causes, impacts and implications (Abrahams 1997). I also would like to have multiple methods to increase the amount of wetlands we have, and how to revert some of the destroyed wetlands to increase the amount of area waterfowl have to breed in. I would like to have a improved strategy on the methods of controlling the overpopulation of snow geese discussed in Arnaud Bechets article titled, Spring hunting changes the regional movements of migrating greater snow geese where she discusses how the spring season can cause a shift in snow goose migration (Arnaud 2003). Another large aspect I would like to discuss is addressed in Brett E. Doraks study about geese in winter and autumn in the metropolitan Chicago area that waterfowl, primarily geese, are utilizing cities to live in, and remain untouched (Dorak 2017). Through the research in the study, they
American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are a species of bird found in the family Corvidae, a family that also includes magpies, nutcrackers, and jays (Eastman, 1997). According Eastman’s book Birds of Forest, Yard, and Thicket, there are around forty-two Corvus species, and most of them live in the Northern Hemisphere (1997). American Crows in the United States usually do not migrate, but they do migrate in Canada. Not all American Crows migrate, but they are social birds who form wintertime flocks that sometimes reach over 200,000 birds (Burton et al., 2010).
Wild Geese-- a poem by Mary Oliver. 1 May 2009. Youtube. 2 Sep. 2010. .
Richard, P. R., Laake, J. L., Hobbs, R. C., Heide-Jørgensen, M. P., Asselin, N. C., & Cleator, H. H. (2010). Baffin Bay Narwhal Population Distribution and Numbers: Aerial Surveys in the Canadian High Arctic, 2002-04. Arctic, 63(1), 85-99.