Auckland politician swamped with requests to re-home geese from Western Springs

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

At least 140 geese at Western Springs Park will be relocated to two lifestyle blocks north of the city in the next fortnight.

Bird lovers from all over New Zealand are flocking to re-home a gaggle of geese that were at risk of being killed.

The 160 feral geese live in Auckland's Western Springs Park, near the city's zoo. However, Auckland Council's ideal number for the popular park is 20.

Waitematā Local Board member Rob Thomas said the council had been looking at options, including culling the geese, but that did not sit well with him so he decided to start a re-homing campaign.

Since his campaign and media publicity, Thomas said he has been receiving an email every 10 minutes from people all over New Zealand who wanted to help re-home the geese.

An Auckland politician says he has been receiving emails every 10 minutes from people wanting to take in some geese.

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There has been a population boom of geese in Western Springs Park.

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Thomas said people from as far as the West Coast had been in touch.

The geese ideally needed to live in lifestyle blocks near Auckland with a lake or pond – and more than 40 people with that type of space had contacted him, he said.

Thomas was 'really surprised and humbled' by the big response from New Zealanders.

It would take a while before the geese would officially be moved as potential homes needed to be vetted, he said.

More than 40 people with lifestyle blocks had contacted local board member Rob Thomas about re-homing some of the geese.

Thomas first heard about the geese potentially being culled when an Auckland Council officer presented to the Waitematā Local Board about reducing the park's goose population.

'My understanding is in two weeks' time they will slowly start plucking them out at night time when they are nesting,' he said.

Auckland Council's head of operational management and maintenance, Agnes McCormack, said there were about 160 feral geese living at Western Springs Park.

'These geese eat up to 3kg of grass per bird, per day and then defecate 1.3kg per bird, per day,' she said.

'With the large number of birds at the park, this is causing a health hazard and is proving unsustainable for the park.'

Auckland Council received independent, professional advice on controlling the geese population and was told a sustainable population for the park was 20 birds, McCormack said.

'We have since been investigating methods to reduce the number of birds at Western Springs and, while this is still in early stages, a couple of methods included culling the birds or re-homing them.

'As part of our investigation, we are exploring restrictions or implications that re-homing the geese may have, especially as they are not domesticated.'