Nuisance Geese Soon To Be Goners

A federal judge will allow the destruction of hundreds of Canada geese that have become bothersome to property owners in Seattle and near Granite Falls.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour refused to intervene to block permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Northwest Animal Rights Network had requested an emergency temporary restraining order, saying the permits may violate federal migratory-bird laws.

The geese are bothering the owners of Fisher Mills on Harbor Island near West Seattle, and property owner George Bridgeman, who owns a summer cabin on Lake Bosworth, south of Granite Falls in Snohomish County.

Federal wildlife officials plan to catch up to 600 geese, take them away and euthanize them with gas.

The geese have been blamed for creating a health hazard around water reservoirs and at public parks, and for spreading a parasite that causes swimmer’s itch in the region’s lakes.