By Cathy Warwick

This past summer I was driving in Manitoba, near Whiteshell Provincial Park, when we passed a sign. The sign read “Alf Hole Goose Sanctuary”. 

“Surely they can’t mean the Canada Goose,” I said.

We stopped to check it out for the sole purpose of finding out what goose they were giving sanctuary to.

It is, indeed, the Canada Goose that has been given sanctuary in that park. Nary a goose was in sight. Do the geese know it exists? Do they know they have a large tract of land that they are welcome to? I’m thinking if they do know, they don’t care. They will go where they want to.

The Alf Hole Goose Sanctuary was conceived in 1939 when Alf inherited some goslings and built a pond for them. This park has been giving sanctuary for 87 years! In 1939, and this is really hard to believe, the Canada Goose was endangered. Decimated, according to Audubon.

Nowadays there are many articles about how places are overrun with them. They are ruining athletic fields, eating just-planted fields of food and degrading water quality. Plus they attack people. 

Efforts to save the Canada Geese populations actually introduced geese in areas where they weren’t before. They especially took to urban locations and often stayed all year, since they were never shown how to migrate. In an urban environment they have no natural predators and endless grass parks to hang out in. 

I have yet to see the large ‘V’ of geese flying south this year, I’m sure I will though. When I do I will breathe a sigh of relief. The Canada Geese have left, we can all go about our business more freely. 

The internet has nicknamed them the “cobra chicken” for their snake-like neck and hissing. If you have ever been on the receiving end of its hissing beak, outstretched wings and beady little eyes you know what they can be like. At the zoo my friend witnessed a child chasing one and it turned around and chased him! As he ran screaming it got in a peck on his posterior. They are not to be trifled with!

Its dapper appearance, with its chin-strapped, sleek black head and two-toned outfit makes its bad manners all the more disappointing. How did such a rude animal get the name Canada when Canadians are known for being polite? There is a rumour that the goose is actually named after an ornithologist named John Canada. However after a bit of research apparently that is unfounded, probably made up by some embarrassed Canadians trying to lay blame elsewhere. 

It’s possible that the Canada goose was often seen flying north, toward its namesake country. 

Oh and don’t call them a ‘Canadian Goose’, there are lots of “canadian geese”, as in a goose from Canada. I bet they don’t want to be lumped in with the Canada Goose.

This spring I can recall a huge population in Prince’s Island park. There seemed to be acres of juvenile geese with a few adult geese. This is called a ‘gang brood’, when there is a large group of goslings, overseen by a couple adult geese who got the short straw. Weaving through them on the bike path is a bit frightening. I know from experience that the inside of their mouth is red.

They do have some positive traits, for example the Canada Goose chooses a partner at about two years old and then stays with that partner for life, isn’t that sweet. Their little goslings are very cute when they paddle behind the parents, all yellow and fluffy. The adult Canada Goose is one of our largest waterfowl, and should we ever have to revert to subsistence living, they are very plentiful.

Goodbye our friend the Canada Goose, try to behave yourselves in the States and Mexico. We know you probably won’t.