I am a landlord in a small town in Upstate NY. One day, one of my Asian tenants was in the front yard of his Apartment building tossing food to a Canadian Goose. Canadian geese are not uncommon to flyovers here but they dont often just end up solo in a yard miles from water. So i walked up to inquire as to what was going on and the guy informs me he was at the local Town Park (approx 5 miles away and on a Lake) and opened his car door and the goose simply climbed in so he apparently left the park and drove it home. The goose seemed uninjured and i assume it could fly although i did not see it do so. I told him he couldnt just steal a goose and that he had to return it. But then i started wondering, did he actualy steal anything? Normally taking something that doesnt belong to you, putting it in your car and driving it home constitutes stealing something.But the goose was perfectly capable of simply flying away once in the yard and seemed quite content eating the snacks the guy was throwing at him and picking through the grass in the yard. (the geese from the park are quite tame but still wild) We have hunting season on geese but the goose wasnt killed, and no such crime as kidnapping geese. Was some kind of crime comitted? If he drove the goose 300 miles instead of 5 would that make a difference to him not getting back to his family?
Canada Goose, not Canadian.
Yeah - federal offense. Protected by migratory bird treaty. Every once in a while you hear of some stupid golfer who gets mad and kills a goose or something, or a driver who doesn’t want to wait as they waddle across the road. Technically, you can get into pretty major trouble for just picking up feathers off the ground.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase, or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such a bird except under the terms of a valid Federal permit.
And because of the migratory treaty, you won’t be hunting any Canada geese either. Other domestic geese, sure.
How about the Canada geese who refuse to migrate?
They became a big problem in the Seattle over the years. Couldn’t go to a park anywhere on Lake Washington without dealing with piles of goose crap. They had a big round up a few years ago, some were shipped to Eastern Washington, the rest were put down.
On the other hand, for other sorts of animals (not covered by ill-thought-out treaties), this sort of thing is routine, and the origin of many pets.
Not true. Canada geese can be hunted as long as your state allows it and you have a Federal Duck Stamp.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. It is perfectly legal, and good conservation practice, to hunt Canada geese “under the terms of a valid Federal permit” (from Blue Infinity’s post). That federal permit is commonly added to your hunting license and called a ‘duck stamp’.
It looks like the only part of the law broken is that the goose was transported by the tenant. Single birds get lost and end up in odd places all the time, so it would be hard to prove the ‘transport’ violation in the unlikely event that a game warden questioned him now. As long as the tenant is just feeding the goose and has not clipped its wings ,or done anything else to prevent departure, there would be nothing to worry about.
Of course, it is hard to believe that the goose “simply climbed in” his car, but. I think the tenant is planning on a nice fattened goose for Christmas dinner.
D’oh! Pipped by newme.
A Duck Stamp for a goose. Now I’ve heard everything.
On the more general issue, it would probably not be illegal in itself to take or keep a non-protected animal species. However, there may be ordinances or laws prohibiting taking or collecting any animal, regardless of protected status, from a protected area such as a park, as well as local laws prohibiting keeping wild animals as pets.
That’s like using a Wabbit Stamp for a hare.
I remember reading something about this some time ago - like 2-3 decades. It said Illinois (and other states) had not accurately counted the percentage of geese that were year-round residents.
Not sure what the implications were. ISTR it had something to do w/ the permissible hunting harvest.
Between geese, pigeons and deer, I’ve long questioned (semi-seriously) why anyone would have to go hungry around Chicago…
The population of the Chicago area would deplete the supply of wild game pretty fast. Evolution didn’t directly produce the kind of efficiency that modern farming techniques have.
Well, he got in the car on his own volition, and he is free to fly away if he wants to do so. Wouldn’t that make him a “guest” as opposed to a “kidnap victim”? LOL
Why would anyone want a Canada Goose? They are nasty, evil pooping birds.
We get thousands of them in New Jersey and I hate them.
There was a movie (in IMAX?) made with some fellow who trained Canada Geese to fly alongside his ultralight to get some incredible footage of geese in flight. He got into trouble with the Canadian government because you are not allowed to keep wild migratory birds as pets.
Is their poop relative to body size any different from, say, a sparrow? Is your objection due to the absolute poop volume or the poop volume / body volume?
You do realize that all wild animals, even bears, shit in the woods? Do you hate them all, or just the mega-pooping ones?
Ever heard anyone say “…like crap through a sparrow.”?