Scholars quote Gandhi’s moral code in bid to save lives of Cambridge geese
King’s College under fire from students as it fails to deter ‘health hazard’ birds with laser pens and fences
By One of Cambridge University’s bestknown colleges is under attack from students who fear that the Canada geese living within its grounds might be killed because their excrement has become a safety hazard.
A gaggle of geese close to King’s College, on the banks of the Cam, is a health and safety risk, according to college staff, who say that their droppings have made the college pathways dangerous and unsightly.
While the college is using a variety of measures to try to deter the birds from returning, including flashing laser pens and putting up fencing along the river bank, the geese have so far stayed put.
King’s is also considering using ultrasonic soundwaves and coating the birds’ eggs in oil, to try to prevent the goose population from growing.
Hundreds of students, concerned that the birds may be killed should current efforts fail, have signed a petition presented to the college council urging it to protect the “sentient beings”, on the grounds that a cull would amount to “animal cruelty”.
In a letter to King’s management, the students wrote: “From a moral standpoint, we believe that geese have intrinsic value and therefore deserve a life free from suffering and human exploitation.
“Geese experience pain, enjoy the benefits of a social lifestyle, and exhibit advanced intelligence in their ability to navigate vast distances on their migratory routes.”
Citing Gandhi, the students add that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. We are aware of how fortunate we are to be members of King’s and how with this membership comes the responsibility of holding each other to high standards of conduct, respect, and dignity.”
While the students acknowledge that the geese are capable of causing serious illness, with germs in their faeces often resistant to antibiotics, they suggest that King’s uses audio and nontoxic chemical deterrents.
Although the college insists it is not planning a cull, students claim the suggestion was made during a recent board meeting. After the protests, management now say the birds will be “moved” if other solutions cannot be found.
The row is not the first to have played out in Cambridge over Canada geese. In 2003, St John’s College was criticised by animal rights campaigners when it announced that was taking steps to “reduce” its own anserine population”.
A King’s spokesman said: “Canada geese are a non-native species, and we have received many complaints that their growing numbers are causing the paths at the college to become slippery and unattractive. The college has used a variety of non-harmful measures to deter the geese, and will continue to do so. If these measures prove unsuccessful we would consider moving the geese from King’s.”
Canada geese were first brought to Britain from North America in 1665 by Charles II to increase the diversity of wildlife on show in St James’s Park, London, and have since spread across the country. While the UK does receive a small number of migrating birds every winter, the vast majority are descendants of 17th-century imports. They have been known to produce droppings every 40 seconds.
Undergraduates at King’s College, Cambridge, are invoking a curious principle. Canada geese there – which they are campaigning to save from culling – came to Britain, they say, “through no fault of their own”. Does this imply that a goose which recognised it had done wrong (like a Labrador that has eaten the sausages from the kitchen table) should be despatched as a penalty? In reality the geese are unwelcome not because of an element of guilt in the anserine mind, but because they make a mess and perhaps spread germs that cause disgusting illnesses which it would be nicer not to go into here. Similar claims might be made about many undergraduates. King’s insists it is not planning a cull, but “would consider moving” them – the geese, that is. Knowing geese, it might be easier to resettle the undergraduates.