Editor’s note: The pictures with this article may be upsetting to some readers.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Several Lakeport residents this week raised concerns over a series of nighttime operations that local officials used to cull the numbers of feral geese near Lakeport's Library Park.

The last of the operations occurred Monday night and early Tuesday morning, and alarmed lakeshore residents when they heard the gunfire being used to kill the geese.

Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen confirmed to Lake County News in a Tuesday afternoon interview that the animals were being culled.

He said California Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife were involved with the operations, which involved going out at night on boats and shooting the geese. Lakeport Police staff stayed on shore in a support capacity.

Rasmussen said a “handful” of the operations have taken place offshore of Library Park since the start of the year. Ducks were not targeted in the culling effort.

Beginning last summer and fall, Rasmussen said the city started to receive numerous complaints from members of the public about the geese being aggressive.

He said the geese are domesticated Greylag geese that have become feral. They’ve increased in numbers significantly over the years, rising to about 100 geese, Rasmussen estimated.

The geese have become more aggressive because the public has continued to feed them, said Rasmussen.

In November 2006, following a die-off of ducks that resulted from a low-pathogen strain of avian influenza, the Lakeport City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting people from feeding ducks and other waterfowl on public properties, including Library Park.

However, the ordinance didn't halt the feeding, Rasmussen said. “People have been continuing to feed ducks and geese at the park.”

Rasmussen said he and City Manager Margaret Silveira discussed the matter and met with California Fish and Game representatives, as well as with a biologist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The city wanted to attempt to relocate the geese. However, according to Rasmussen, Fish and Game informed the city that because of their policies and concerns over disease that the geese can carry, they couldn’t legally or by policy relocate the geese, which they recommended be killed.

Rasmussen said officials also provided the city with information about the diseases that feral and wild geese can carry, including swimmer’s itch, histoplasmosis, toxoplasmosis, giardia, salmonella and E. coli.

Lt. Loren Freeman, a Fish and Game warden based in Clearlake Oaks, told Lake County News Tuesday that he did not want to comment on the operation in depth, although he stated his agency acted in a support capacity.

“It was ultimately their decision,” he said of the city.

Rasmussen said a plan was developed and carried out, with the last operation taking place about a month ago.

Community members ask for killing to be stopped

Rasmussen had not been contacted with any complaints about the operations until this week, when he received a call from Ron Bertsch, a former councilman.

Bertsch, his wife Barbara and another Lakeport resident, Verna Schaffer, appeared before the Lakeport City Council meeting Tuesday night to voice their displeasure over the geese extermination.

Ron Bertsch asked the city to stop the killing, saying there's only eight to 10 of the geese left – not counting those with bullet holes that survived. He said 50 to 60 used to go by his home on the lake.

He said he spoke with California Department of Fish and Game representatives in Rancho Cordova, who said the city could ask that the geese be culled if they were sick. As of last Friday that office had not record of authorization for the geese to be culled.

Bertsch said that at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday he heard a gunshot. He went out onto his deck and found a boot 50 feet from his door with people shooting the geese. Bertsch said he spotlighted them and they left.

He then went to a nearby boat launch, where he said he found a California Department of Fish and Game boat, a Yolo County Sheriff's patrol car and Lakeport Police.

“I'm just asking you to please stop,” he told the council.

Barbara Bertsch told the council, “I find it very difficult to believe that over 60 geese are considered sick.”

She said she and her husband have lived in their home full-time as retirees for 10 years, and have been familiar with the geese, which she said weren't sick.

“The bottom line is, the city doesn't want the poop in Library Park,” she said.

She showed pictures of wounded animals – with wounds in the neck, chest and wing – and told the council, “This is what's left.”

She added, “I've been crying a week now over this. I'm sick to my core over what you guys have done.”

Schaffer said some of the area's ducks have been injured in the operations, and she suggested there should be a more humane way of approaching the situation.

She also questioned the secretive, nighttime nature of the operations.

Police chief offers explanation to the council, community members

Rasmussen explained the operations to the council and community members, shared the background of the city’s interactions with state and federal game officials, and said the last culling was the one that ended early Thursday morning.

“I know this is not a pleasant thing,” Rasmussen said, adding he didn’t take any pleasure in it.

Rasmussen said he supported eliminating the animals due to concerns for public safety, and offered to meet with community members who were concerned about the situation.

Councilman Bob Rumfelt recounted issues with night herons and geese in the park over the years. He said the geese tend to be pets that are thrown away after the holidays.

Rumfelt said he didn’t know if anything could have been done differently. “We can't let the geese run the park and that's what they were doing, from what I understand.”

Freeman, who attended the meeting, told the council that Fish and Game acted in a support capacity. He said the geese in question are not wild animals and therefore don't require a permit to remove them.

He said Fish and Game provided a boat and one officer to drive it.

The concerned lakeshore residents said they witnessed more than one boat being used.

In response to questions that arose during the meeting, Rasmussen told Lake County News afterward that he was not present during the operations and could not speak to the number of boats used.

However, he said Lakeport Police officers were not on the water during the operations, but remained on shore to offer support and ensure safety for the public. U.S. Fish and Wildlife trappers were responsible for shooting the geese.

He said the culling was carried out at night for safety reasons.

There were no geese present in and around Library Park on Tuesday evening, but Rasmussen estimated about 30 geese remain in the area.

He restated his offer to speak to concerned community members about the action the city took.

“I understand it’s a controversial subject,” he said, adding he knows not everyone will agree with what the city did.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .