– Residents assured no more hunting near their home –

(OSOYOOS TIMES — Jan. 24, 2007) –

By Julie TurnerrnOsoyoos Times

Fred and Carol Cawdell say they have been reassured by Mayor John Slater that there will no longer be any shooting of geese near their home in east Osoyoos.
The Osoyoos couple met with Slater last Friday afternoon to discuss their concerns about hunters shooting geese in an orchard bordering the Cedar Villa mobile home park.
They told the Osoyoos Times earlier this month “ after their home was hit with birdshot from hunters culling geese in a nearby orchard “ they were dumbfounded to learn the shooting of geese was legal within town limits.
The Times story was followed by a visit to the Cawdells by CHBC-TV, which sent a news crew to interview them last week, and the couple says they were also contacted by an animal welfare group in Kelowna called TRACS “ The Responsible Animal Care Society.
In addition to the December birdshot incident, a goose shot in the air in late November fell and crashed though the skirting of a mobile home directly across the road from the Cawdells.
Fred says if the goose had fallen and hit a person, a car or a window, the damage could have been much worse.
Slater told the Cawdells the orchard, which has been cleared of trees, making it an open and attractive feeding area for geese, will be replanted next year.
He said there would be no more shooting over there, Carol says.
Slater said hunting season is now over and confirmed hunting will not take place in that orchard next season.
He added Council will examine the Town's policies and are proposing to hire a consultant to give us a program for 2007, adding it could still include hunting geese within town limits, among other methods such as egg addling.
We want to have a regional action plan for this. A regional approach is going to be better to tackle the goose problem.
The mayor also told CHBC he wants to make sure all our licensed hunters that do come in for an application are very aware of our rules and regulations. The areas that we've identified for hunting are in open orchards and normally there's not residential areas that are affected, but unfortunately there was a little bit of a mishap.
Osoyoos, like other municipalities in the South Okanagan, has had problems with a rising population of resident and migrant geese, and has allowed hunting as one way to manage the numbers.
One condition of a hunting permit is that hunters must notify residents in an area in advance that they will be discharging firearms.
Just under 3,000 Canada geese were counted in Osoyoos on December 30, at the annual Christmas Bird Count. The impacts of this large population, biologists say, include increased health and safety issues, as geese contribute to the pollution levels (e-coli and salmonella) in the lake and on land.
The Town's bylaw regulating the discharge of firearms and bows, adopted in 2004, disallows the discharge of firearms at any time in the municipality, with exceptions made for peace officers or conservation officers; the discharge of firearms at shooting ranges; the discharge of blank ammunition at sporting events; or the discharge of firearms by a person authorized in writing by the Town for the control of wildlife or waterfowl on public property.