Officials Will Grease Goose Eggs

Animal-control workers are using a new tactic in their bid to control the burgeoning population of Canada geese in the Puget Sound area.

Instead of trapping the geese and hauling them to Eastern Washington and Idaho, as they have done for the past six years, wildlife managers are coating the birds’ eggs with an oily solution that prevents embryos from developing.

The geese don’t know anything’s wrong, so they continue to sit on the eggs instead of renesting, said Gary Oldenberg, state director of Animal Damage Control.

The agency expects to destroy about 2,000 eggs this year in King and Snohomish counties.

The number of geese in the Seattle area has leaped in recent years. Animal managers blame the change on humans who provide handouts. The birds have no need to migrate and stay here year-round.