Fate of Great Brak geese to be reassessed in 2024
Communication regarding the Great Brak geese will continue in the new year, the Mossel Bay Municipality confirmed.
With a series of articles, the Mossel Bay Advertiser enquired to various stakeholders regarding the animals and their effect on the environment.
These included the municipality, Cape Nature, the Great Brak Estuary Forum, BirdLife South Africa and the Garden Route SPCA.
The estuary forum had referred the Advertiser to the municipality and Cape Nature, while after publication of the particular article, BirdLife referred to its position statement on alien and invasive bird species.
"Although geese are not specifically mentioned, BirdLife South Africa would regard these domestic geese as being in the category of alien/invasive. Cape Nature ought to take responsibility for removal of the species for reasons provided in our position statement," said Dr Kirsten Day, BirdLife SA's advocacy officer.
The general consensus by these stakeholders was that the birds should be removed. Most community members, however, are up in arms at the mention of removal. So much so, that the Garden Route SPCA was prevented by members of the community from capturing the animals recently.
The SPCA had been acting on a request from the municipality, but these community members aimed their outrage at the SPCA. According to a statement from the SPCA on 9 November, the branch manager of the Mossel Bay SPCA, Elize Goosen, and her inspectorate team were chased away by members of the community, while attempting to embark on the first step to catch and relocate the domestic geese.
"Responding to the request from the municipality for the relocation of the geese, our small team was shocked and disappointed to have been treated the way it was," the SPCA said in its statement.
"However, we have chosen to see the situation differently.
It is with pride and gratefulness that we celebrate that our community is so passionate about these creatures, as well as the environment in which they live."
The organisation said the incident had given its team an opportunity to really appreciate the residents in the Mossel Bay area for their compassion and care. "We have a renewed hope in humanity.
"So we say thank you for chasing us, and thank you for standing up for the rights of animals. Together we can achieve so much more."