'Breaks my heart': Residents react to removal of Canada goose nest, destruction of eggs
Residents who live in the Hyde Park Place apartments in north London, Ont. said they are heartbroken after Old Oak Properties removed two geese nests, containing more than half a dozen eggs.
“They used a bang to scare off the geese that were on the nest, and they took away the eggs,” said Nancy Plessis-Belair, a resident in one of the three Old Oak apartments in Hyde Park.
In a statement to CTV News London, Old Oak Properties confirmed that a wildlife removal company was called in last week to “motivate” the adult geese to move away from the nest, by using something called a “bang machine.”
The eggs were destroyed in accordance with the terms of a ‘damage or danger’ permit obtained from Environment and Climate Change Canada, according to Old Oak Properties.
“The property is already overrun with geese, and there are many other nests that were not disturbed. The egg removal from two nests was an attempt to reduce the total number of geese from the area — not to completely eliminate them,” explained Tracy Norman, director of property management at Old Oak Properties.
Plessis-Belair has lived in the apartment for three years, and said the geese return to nest in the same place. She questions why property management was not proactive, ensuring measures that would have prevented the geese from nesting.
“It breaks my heart, I go to sleep at night and I’m just thinking about it, you know. How can someone destroy nature like that? They are so beautiful,” added Plessis-Belair.
Old Oak Property in London, Ont.'s Hyde Park where two geese nests were removed and destroyed in late April 2024. (Reta Ismail/CTV News London)Brendon Samuels, coordinator of Bird Friendly London, said in Canada there is the Migratory Bird Convention Act and there are regulations that apply to any kind of disturbance or harm to migratory birds or their habitat.
It is illegal to disturb a nest of a migratory bird such as Canada geese, especially once there are eggs inside. Samuels said since the property management team obtained the required permit, their actions may have been authorised, but questions the necessity of such measures.
“Proactive strategies are really the key for managing Canada geese and with wildlife in general…looking at where geese have set up in the past, and setting up landscaping and exclusion devices so that the birds are not going to be attracted to come back there,” explained Samuels.
Old Oak Properties said the geese create “a lot of mess” throughout the property, which makes it “difficult and sometimes treacherous for residents to walk the grounds,” and sited problems for dog owners.
Plessis-Belair, along with several other tenants who voiced their concern over the removal of the nest said they enjoyed having them around.
“It’s a joy, we look out for them, I constantly go to check on the mamma,” said Plessis-Belair.
During Plessis-Belair’s interview with CTV News London, the geese returned and began to circle the area under the pergola where one of the nests was removed.
The video was shown to Samuels, and in his opinion he said it “sounds to me like a distress call, that’s what you would hear if you intrude in a breeding birds territory, where it has a nest, and they are reacting to an intruder in their space, and in this case, to the eggs that were destroyed.”
Western University has a dedicated page about geese, where the community can submit a request for assistance with a goose conflict.
To learn more about conflicts with Canada geese you can also visit the Bird Friendly London website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
NDP want Liberals to scrap proposed election date change that could secure pensions for many MPs
The federal New Democrats want to amend the Liberal government's electoral reform legislation to scrap the proposal to push back the vote by a week and consequently secure pensions for dozens of MPs, CTV News has learned.
Israel's war cabinet minister moves to dissolve parliament: statement
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party has proposed holding a vote to dissolve parliament in a bid to bring about an early election, his party said in a statement on Thursday.
DEVELOPING BMO clients face outages in Canada, U.S. following data centre fire alarm
Bank of Montreal clients on both sides of the border Thursday morning have reported outages with banking services. BMO said its technical team is investigating.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., begins RBC Canadian Open defence
Nick Taylor begins the defence of his RBC Canadian Open title this morning.
B.C. mortgage broker ran $270-million Ponzi scheme, then fled Canada, bankruptcy trustee says
The trustee appointed to manage the bankruptcies of a Victoria mortgage company and its owner has concluded that they committed "numerous offences" and operated as a "massive Ponzi scheme."
Want to turn off Meta AI? You can't - but there are some workarounds
If you use Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram, you've probably noticed a new character pop up answering search queries or eagerly offering tidbits of information in your feeds, with varying degrees of accuracy.