“Mother Goose” (that proverbial teller of children’s tall tales) is most welcome to inhabit the shelves of school and community libraries not to mention retail stores, but heaven forbid that she actually decides to plop down in one of our premier pristine parks, (particularly Beacon Hill situated on the eastern edge of James Bay).

 

What has local politicians and some fine folks sounding the avian alarm bell of late is the fact that our famed “Canada geese” actually have the temerity to disobey prominently placed bylaw signs reading “no overnight camping in parks or streets permitted”.

 

Even more galling is the fact that this species of many-splendored migratory fowl has been dubbed by some penny-pinching, non-nature enthusiast city dwelling types as a “nasty nuisance”.

 

Recently, it seems that these individuals were shocked to hear that the City of Victoria had depleted the public purse by some $6,500 (in order to clean up the guano from more than a few gaggle of geese).

 

No doubt they’re sick and tired of all the uninvited "fine feathered friends" who are fowling our nest by spending their sabbatical leave in our "beautiful British Columbia" green spaces as well as our majestic "City of Gardens"). If truth be told, they’re problably not impressed by any living creature that does not even bother to clean up after itself (even if it is part of our Canuck natural heritage)!

 

Judging from the op-ed pages of the local newspapers, purging the place of poop (be it the kind left behind by geese, gulls, pigeons, canines and horses), is a “sticky” topic on the minds of disenchanted taxpayers, tourism officials and perhaps a few engaging in flights of fancy who would like to “gather up the non-migrating geese and send them to a farm environment”. Better yet, maybe the geese could shipped off to colonize the moon along with all those dreadful methane-emitting cows, (be they the sacred ones or the secular variety) — at least two solutions to the pesky problem of global warming!

 

Speaking of birds and beasts flocking together and how to get rid of their guano without breaking the budget line or the bank account (which is a delightful diversion from the myriad of mucky meetings on the Capital Regional District’s sewage options), perhaps the elected representatives and eager beaver bureaucrats will humor us by finding time to focus on things that really matter like “peace, order and good government”, (after all, isn’t that the Canadian motto)?