DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110667

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: JAMES CITY COUNTY                 LENGTH:   72 lines

MANY RESIDENTS APPROVED KILLING OF GEESE, OFFICIAL SAYS HE AND OTHERS SAY REPORTS ARE EXAGGERATED, INCLUDING HOW MANY CANADA GEESE REMAIN.

Rumors concerning the deaths of 170 Canada geese removed July 1 from the resort community of Ford's Colony have been greatly exaggerated.

True, the geese were taken from the neighborhood and euthanized. And about 100 more juvenile geese were relocated to Virginia farmland about 50 miles away.

But officials said they have been unfairly treated by media reports claiming the birds were removed and killed without the knowledge of residents. They also say that about 30 geese remain in the community, not two as some residents believed.

``Some people have a negative gut reaction about this no matter what good comes from it,'' said Drew R. Mulhare, a vice president at the planned community just west of Williamsburg.

``But there's a severe overpopulation of these geese up and down the East Coast,'' Mulhare said. ``And we did not completely eradicate the population.''

Unlike the accidental poisoning of 39 geese at a neighboring golf course four years ago, the legality of the July 1 roundup is not in question, officials said.

Employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture caught the birds and removed them under ``animal damage control'' regulations, which steadily have been knocking off nuisance geese at locations throughout Virginia.

Almost 2,000 geese have been killed throughout the state under this program.

A Chesapeake neighborhood recently considered going the same route but voted instead to prohibit feeding of ducks and geese in its area.

Members of the Ford's Colony homeowners' association said most of the human population considered goose feces a nuisance on the greens of two rolling golf courses.

The waste also contaminated the water supply of several man-made ponds, which provide a great deal of the irrigation water there, Mulhare said.

The association discussed the topic and possible solutions at several community meetings, and a copy of the Ford's Colony development plan specifically addresses population control of animals living among the thousands of plots of land scattered around the golf courses on the community's 2,500 acres.

``The birds, in part, have really annoying feces,'' said Adrian J. Lathe, 70, a board member of the homeowners association. ``I do as much walking and fishing here as I play golf. The geese are a problem.''

Canada geese are protected by the Migratory Bird Act of 1918, which makes it unlawful to kill migratory birds unless it is authorized by the secretary of the interior.

However, under animal damage control regulations, the USDA can capture and euthanize geese to alleviate damage. Legalized population hunts are often held in the Northeast along Interstate 95. The captured geese are regularly made available to local food banks.

In past years, Ford's Colony had removed dozens of young geese and relocated them through this program. But finding room for adult geese has been difficult, and this year was the first in which geese were killed at Ford's Colony, Mulhare said.

Duke Anderson, a 69-year-old Ford's Colony resident, supported the removal of the geese but acknowledged those who disagree.

``We're no different from other communities up and down the East Coast in having to control these animals,'' Anderson said. ``In any community you'll find those that consider this a problem, and those that don't want to touch the animals.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE

Williamsburg resort community residents complained that Canada geese

droppings contaminate the water supply of several man-made ponds. KEYWORDS: GEESE

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