Denver Goose Kill Is Done For The Year

DENVER (CBS4) - The City of Denver says Thursday that the controversial goose kill is done for the year. USDA crews in four parks around Denver have been mitigating the population.

Denver Parks and Recreation says the culling ended Thursday at Sloan's Lake, Washington, Garfield and City Parks. Those locations have water features and abundant grass that geese enjoy. In all, 2,200 geese were taken, as agreed upon by a goose culling permit with the United States Department of Agriculture. That number includes the birds also taken as part of Denver International Airport's management. Geese are protected on a state and federal level, and mitigation is only allowable with a permit from the USDA.

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"The geese that were culled were resident geese, not migrating geese," Cynthia Karvaski with Denver Parks and Rec said. "So we're going to see a lot of geese in the parks this winter as they migrate. The population (of resident geese) has increased because we've given them the perfect place. However, it's not a manageable population."

The city will re-evaluate the goose population later this year after they get a report from the USDA, who did the actual gathering.