The Common Canada Goose

You may have noticed that in the winter and early spring there always seems to be a little extra something sitting on the ground in Colorado. I am talking of course about the large quantities of goose droppings that seem to litter the Colorado cityscape in the wintertime. These goose dropping stick to slackliners’ feet, athlete’s shoes, and bike’s wheels.

The culprit behind the mess is none other than the common Canada Goose. These large birds are terribly annoying to see around town and often scare the common student. Numerous instances goose peckings and bitings have been reported and can be problematic to our society. Populations of Canada Geese in North America are out of control and in many places Canada Geese are considered pests. The problem is that no one would actually kill off all the geese to fix our situation.

According to a reputable health site, goose feces can pose health risks, but only when inhaled or ingested. The ingestion of goose feces is actually a common occurrence in Colorado when it is mistaken for a dropped pot brownie. Unfortunately for those stoners, goose feces contain the parasites cryptosporidium, giardia, coliform, and campylobacter. Cryptosporidium poses the most serious health hazard, since it causes cryptosporidiosis, an illness with nasty symptoms such as watery diarrhea, stomach cramps or pain, fever, nausea, and vomiting.

Given the current population of Canada Geese, it would be hard to believe that they ever made the endangered species list, but no more than 60 years ago these majestic birds were close to extinction. One giant variation of the Canadian goose was actually believed to be extinct at one time. Sadly our close ancestors decided that goose droppings were important and younger generations of stoners had to suffer as they had often suffered.

We were all once so close to a world without goose poop covered sidewalks. And sadly I think for once the world might have been fine without feces. I sort of wish that our close ancestors had not decided to save the Canada Goose.

Do you feel that your life would have changed without geese? The next time you step in goose droppings do not think of how dirty your shoes are. Instead think of how lucky you are to have the opportunity to experience the majestic Canada Goose that almost went extinct.