Mother Goose, the Exterminator, the HOA & Me

There's a goose in my backyard.  Actually there are two geese, male and female, who appear to have mated for life because now there is a nest in the corner of our patio.  Our home in the desert is on an artificial lake and there are swans, Canadian geese, ducks, egrets, guinea hens and other waterfowl that find it to be a warm and safe haven for the winter.  My family and I thought it was a safe haven for them as well, until yesterday.

Over the past few weeks I have seen the "couple" sit on our dock and I have cleaned up after them as I watched the koi and catfish swim around.  Not many places to see nature so close and personal in Southern California, so I was thrilled to see the nest and the first egg appear.  Daily she would return and sit on the nest and then take off with her mate for a short respite; but they never ventured too far from the nest and kept a vigilant watch over it.  Romeo, the neighborhood cat, stopped by the other day and ran off after much flapping and honking scared him away. 

Today there are five eggs nestled among leaves, goose down and any other soft object the female goose could find.  Never having seen this before, I have researched Canadian Geese to find out how I can help or if I can feed her anything special... you can't and I don't.  Bread is considered "junk food" by goose experts.  So I am content to watch and learn. 

Yesterday that all changed.  My husband and I happened to be in the living room when the HOA pest control man went by with his sprayer.  I jumped up and went to the door to tell him to be careful because there was a nest and saw him turn the corner and before I could speak, head toward the goose.  He extended his arm with the sprayer and sprayed her with the poison and then laughed when she became alarmed.   

BIG mistake, huge mistake for those who know me, because I am a fierce advocate for creatures, including humans, who cannot defend themselves.  And I "politely" asked him, "What the HELL did you do that for?"  He then realized that someone had seen him do it and told me not to worry that the solution wasn't very strong and he hadn't seen her sitting there.  His smug response included how his sunglasses were very dark and there was a glare off the water which blinded him.  If I hadn't seen him walk directly toward her and then laugh after spraying her, I might have believed him.

Shaken and alarmed, I called the onsite HOA office and told them what had happened.  The office manager told me that she would call the company that oversees the "management" of the water fowl and tell them what happened.... and then she added, "I will have them send someone out to "oil the eggs" so they don't hatch".  "What??"  I told her that I had called her to report misconduct by one of their contractors and she wanted to have someone come out to destroy the nest?  I told her that I was very opposed to that procedure and she said that I would have to write the HOA a letter and then they would decide what they would do.  She said that 90% of the homeowners do not like the geese and approve of their treatment in dealing with them.   First, let me say, we are NOT overrun by geese and on our walks throughout the complex we have seen less than a dozen of them. 

To the credit of the pest control company, they were "mortified" that their employee did that and assured us that he would be disciplined, and have since called back to check on the welfare of the "mama goose".  My husband delivered a letter to the HOA telling them that the eggs are over 14 days old and now should be subject to the Fish & Game restrictions into inhumane treatment.  Not sure how this will end but what I do believe is "The measure of a society can be how well its people treat its animals". ~ M. Gandhi

I am conflicted in upholding the rights of the majority in an HOA and my belief that cruelty in any form, whether spraying poison on the body of a nesting goose or killing her eggs so she sits on an infertile nest, is simply not acceptable in my world.