Reprieve for the Windermere Canada Geese

On Tuesday, all members of the Geese Management Group received from Animal Aid a proposal written by goose expert, Clive Hartley, and humane deterrence expert, John Bryant. The document urged the Lake District National Park and all the self-selected members of the Geese Management Group to accept a 12-month moratorium, to allow experts to devise and implement non-lethal measures. Just the day before, the RSPCA had publicly criticised the cull, threatened to prosecute if any aspect was conducted unlawfully and offered its own experts to come up with a humane solution.

Says Animal Aid’s Head of Campaigns, Kate Fowler:

‘This is wonderful and very welcome news. We have been working hard to save these majestic birds from slaughter and sincerely hope that they are finally safe. The Geese Management Group must now commit to working alongside experts to develop a humane policy, rather than simply reaching for a gun whenever they deem there are “too many” of a particular species. And Animal Aid will continue to work to make sure that happens.’

With sincere thanks to Bill Oddie, Brian May, Clive Hartley, John Bryant, Kathy Musker, Martin Campbell, Neil Ryding, Roy Armstrong, Simon Hughes, Steph Baxter, Yvonne Pinnington, the RSPCA and the Save the Windermere Geese Group.