Hamilton’s council calls foul on wild geese problem

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

The Canada geese don’t sleep or nest at the lake, Councillor Anna Casey-Cox said. They arrive in the early morning and leave again at night.

A fake wolf could hold the key to saving a popular Hamilton lake from a noisy, messy and potentially dangerous invasion of hundreds of Canada geese.

Following the end of the recent duck-shooting/game-bird season the nomadic population of Canada geese at Hamilton Lake (Lake Rotoroa) has exploded - and so have complaints to Hamilton City Council about poo-clogged footpaths and raucous wake-up calls.

The mayor is calling for Government back-up and the council is also concerned growing geese numbers could pose a risk to helicopters using the nearby Waikato Hospital heliport.

Although there have been no near misses reported, “bird strikes are a known hazard, posing a risk of damage to aircraft and potential pilot injuries if a bird or screen impacts the pilot,’’ a Philips Search & Rescue Trust spokesperson told the Waikato Times.

Canada Geese on Lake Rotoroa in Hamilton

The goose problem is so bad Hamilton Mayor Tim Macindoe is writing to Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard about the situation.

“They are becoming a real nuisance and a biosecurity problem,’’ Macindoe says.

A wooden wolf decoy has been erected to scare Canada Geese away from Hamilton Lake.

“Dealing with biosecurity problems, particularly with birds, that even if they were to be relocated, have the potential to come back quite quickly, is not an easy problem to solve.’’

Their mobile nature means control efforts are often scuppered by “rapid re-invasion’’ from surrounding areas, making single-agency or regional responses costly and difficult to sustain.

“These challenges highlight the need for a coordinated national approach, as local and regional management alone is insufficient to achieve sustained population reductions,’’ Mayor Macindoe says.

The trial of a cut-out wolf silhouette at one corner of the lake has met with some success, with the birds steering clear of the side of the lake where they can see the predator’s likeness.

Councillor Anna Casey-Cox explained that E coli contamination from the geese - which pollute at a bodyweight ratio worse than cows for E coli, nitrogen and phosphorous - tends to be localised to where the birds congregate.

'If you wanted to ever create like a swimming area, keeping the geese and the ducks out of one particular area would be a good thing to at least try,' Casey-Cox told the Waikato Times.

The geese are ‘a real nuisance and a biosecurity problem’, Hamilton Mayor Tim Macindoe wrote in a letter to Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.

To address this, a council-led working group featuring subject-matter experts has been established to conduct further water testing. The group aims to verify that the E coli remains localised, with the ultimate goal of establishing a designated area that is completely free of the bacteria for future swimming.

However, Casey-Cox pointed out that the council does not want to simply move the geese from one side of the lake to another.

Eradication efforts are further hampered by the fact the geese do not sleep or nest at the lake, instead they arrive in the early morning and leave again at night, Casey-Cox says.

If Canada geese were classified as a pest there would be a framework around controlling population levels, Fish & Game says.

At present no single agency holds responsibility for managing Canada geese, which are unprotected wildlife and can be hunted and shot without bag limits but are not listed as pests.

Fish & Game chief operating officer Richie Cosgrove says since a 2011 Government decision to remove declassify the bird from “game birds” to “unprotected wildlife,” there has been no structured control programme, no coordinated culling, and no systematic monitoring of population numbers.

“The burden of management has effectively shifted onto individual landowners and regional councils.

“Fish & Game retains expertise in goose management and has provided assistance with culls related to aviation bird-strike risk when requested, but we have no authority to use licence holders’ funds or resources for general population control.’’

Classifying Canada geese as a pest species under the Biosecurity Act would trigger a formal management regime with funding obligations, land access provisions, and coordinated control, which would provide a clearer framework for addressing population pressures.

“The challenge is that no single agency currently holds the mandate or the data to drive that process,’’ Cosgrove says.

Responding to the Waikato Times, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard pointed out Canada geese were one of several feral species causing negative impacts on the primary sector.

“The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has recently established a programme focussed on feral browsing animals.

“The initial focus will be on reducing the impacts of feral deer, which the sector has told us are the most significant animal pest issue for them at this time.

“Once progress is made on feral deer, we expect that a similar approach could be applied to other feral browsing pests, including Canada geese.

“MPI will engage with Regional Councils, Federated Farmers and others on this work.’’