WEST MILFORD – Greenwood Lake Commission Chairman, and township resident, Paul Zarrillo said Wednesday night that the US Department of Agriculture killed 64 geese last year by gassing them.
According to Zarrillo, the commission contracted with the USDA last year as part of its geese containment program.
The about $20,000 contract called for the agency to addle eggs, take a survey of the goose population on the lake and then to harvest some 206 geese in June of last year.
Because Greenwood Lake is in two different state, New York and New Jersey, the harvesting process is different, he said.
In New Jersey, the agency used kayaks to round up 64 of the 206, bringing them onshore where they were placed in a van and gassed, he said.
He did not know how the remaining 140 or so geese were euthanized in New York.
The carcasses were given to animal shelters in New Jersey and to help feed the homeless in New York, he said.
The commission is once again contracting with the USDA this year for addling and taking a survey of the population, but he could not say if any adult geese would be killed.
Zarrillo attended the West Milford Township Council meeting to explain what measures were being taken to control the goose population.
He said that while West Milford, which hosts the New Jersey side of the lake, has already passed ordinances prohibiting the feeding of the geese, he is hopeful that towns on the New York side will follow suit.
Following the meeting, Zarrillo said the geese, which can be a health hazard due to their waste on the shore and in the water, said that they are attracted to manicured landscaping as opposed to wild growth along the banks of the lake.