Wildlife rescue dealing with growing problem of drivers hitting geese

When Canada geese are blocking traffic, it’s okay to give them a little honk. What’s not OK is speeding up or deliberately trying to hit them.

But this is something that animal lover Gillian Kehler has seen one too many times while driving in Regina.

“I was watching the traffic. I was watching the geese. I was anticipating, but hoping that they weren’t going to get hit, and sure enough, when the one goose got clipped, I just instantly started crying,” she recalled.

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The injured goose is still in the care of Salthaven West. Bonnie Dell hopes it can be released in time to migrate with its flock. (Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan)

“He went flying up into the air with his partner, trying to fly away,” she said. “But you could tell that his wing had been hit and was injured, and he went falling right back down to the road.”

After getting the licence plate number of the vehicle that hit the goose, Kehler called the wildlife rescue and reported the driver.

“(The rescue) had informed me that they had received an influx of calls about the exact same scenario, just people deliberately hitting geese or not trying to avoid hitting geese at all,” she said.

The volunteer with the rescue also kept Kehler informed about the animal’s condition. The goose will walk with a limp for the rest of its life, according to the volunteer.

But the goose was able to be reunited with its family, which is especially important because geese mate for life.

The rescue said that when a goose loses its partner, it can be very difficult for the remaining goose to take care of and protect its young. (Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan/Submitted)

Kehler is thankful for the work that rescues do, but she knows the rescues like Salthaven West, which care for injured geese, are constantly busy and sometimes understaffed.

“It’s sad that humans are helping contribute to that workload unnecessarily for them,” she said. “Those rescues should be for one-offs. It shouldn’t be a regularly occurring thing.”

She hopes to see more awareness about the issue, particularly she’d like to see more signs around Wascana Park, where the geese frequently cross the nearby roads.

“My message to people would be, if you can’t be bothered to care about the life of an animal, think about the people around you. There could be children in vehicles watching this, and it could be traumatizing for them,” she said.

“Not to mention a lot of adults, myself included, feel the same way.”

A flock of geese crossing a road in Saskatoon. (Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan/Submitted)

Animal rescue ‘troubled’ by influx of calls

The Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan (WRSOS) has been busy all summer, but vehicles hitting geese has been a growing problem, particularly in Regina.

Bonnie Dell, executive director of WRSOS, said it’s really troubling.

“We had three reports in one week alone of people witnessing a vehicle deliberately striking a family of geese,” she said.

“We’ve had some really upset callers who can barely get the story out to us when they phone us because they’ve witnessed something so horrific.”

Bonnie Dell with WRSOS said incidents happen a lot around Wascana Park, on busy roads and intersections. (Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan/Submitted)

But she said not every case is a deliberate attack.

“I think that it’s distracted driving,” she said. “It’s people not paying attention to what might be crossing, and geese can come across the road without thinking quite quickly.”

Dell wants to remind people that geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Act.

“Anyone caught deliberately doing this would be charged, and the fines are very steep,” she said.

“If you witness it, please get a license plate number, because you can report it to the police. If you have a camera in your car and you film it or get photos of it, these people can and will be charged.”

The WRSOS runs a provincial helpline for injured, orphaned or displaced wildlife. Dell encourages anyone with questions or concerns to call their helpline.

“We’re here 365 days a year,” she said. “So if you witness it or have questions about it, give us a call.”

The rescue has a network of volunteers around the province who respond to any “human wildlife conflicts,” Dell said.

The injured animals stay in the care of volunteers for “as long as it takes” to get them rehabilitated and back into the wild.

A family of geese out for a swim. (Wildlife Rescue Society of Saskatchewan/submitted)

What to do when a goose is crossing the road

In a statement from the Provincial Capital Commission, it said it “has not witnessed nor received any complaints about people deliberately trying to hit geese with their vehicles in Wascana Centre.”

When encountering geese on the road within Wascana Centre, it said to slow down, approach slowly and honk your horn to keep geese moving off the roadways.

It created educational videos to make people aware of what to do.