While children splashed and played in the water at Stephens Lake Park yesterday, a small flock of Canada geese sat in the shade just yards away.

Don Shrubshell photo

Geese swim at Stephens Lake Park earlier this week. The city is defending its decision to round up the geese and donate some to the food bank.

Some of the birds won’t be there much longer.

Under a plan approved this week by the Columbia City Council, about 200 adult geese later this month will be gathered from four city parks and taken to a meat processing plant in Springfield, where they will be turned into table food.

The state Department of Conservation plans to donate it to the Central Missouri Food Bank, but the whole idea of solving the goose nuisance in such a way disturbs some city park-goers.

"It just seems a little drastic," said Robert Bainks, who was sunning himself on the beach yesterday at Stephens Lake.

The 25-year-old said he had not heard about the city’s plans for the birds but suggested there surely must be another option to get rid of the troublesome fowl.

"If they would find another solution, that would be awesome," he said.

That’s precisely the problem, city and state officials say - there isn’t another solution. The geese have decided they like living in city parks, where grass is plentiful to eat and landscapes gently slope toward bodies of water.

In other words, the Canada geese in Columbia’s parks aren’t planning on moving.

Mike Griggs, the city’s parks services director, said the city began a "harassment" program nearly 20 years ago to try to discourage the birds from nesting in parks, eating patches of grass and pooping all over the place.

The program has included scaring the birds and "addling" their eggs, which involves shaking them or spraying them with vegetable oil so they won’t hatch. The city also spent about $1,000 on a machine that plays a recorded goose "distress call" designed to frighten the birds away.

The birds always come back, however, and their droppings could pose a health hazard for swimmers.

"It was not an easy decision for us to recommend the goose roundup," Griggs said. "We kept trying everything else we could. Every time a new product came out, we tried it."

Targeted for roundup are geese at Stephens, Twin Lakes Recreation Area, Lake of the Woods Golf Course and L.A. Nickell Golf Course. Goslings, which have not yet put down permanent roots at the parks, will be taken to one of three designated areas across the state.

Griggs said the parks department receives complaints about goose droppings at least once a month.

Conservation officials coordinate about six to eight roundups per year. This year, 15 are scheduled to take place in Columbia, Kansas City, Jefferson City, Springfield and suburban St. Louis.

Jackie Seigal, a spokeswoman for a St. Louis-based group called GeesePeace, said there are other ways to get rid of the birds. In addition to techniques the city already has tried, she mentioned shooing the birds away with trained dogs.

Mike Hood, parks and recreation director, said the city considered using dogs. That method is expensive and only offers a temporary solution, he said.

"They adapt really quickly," Hood said of the birds.

Rex Martensen coordinates goose roundups for the Department of Conservation. He said gaining a permit from the agency to kill the federally protected birds is not simple. It requires visits to the affected areas by a state biologist and proof that other options already have been tried.

"If there was a foolproof way to control geese without lethal methods, we would use that," Martensen said.

Still, Elaine Hartley is not convinced. She planned to take her 3-year-old granddaughter to the park specifically to see the Canada geese.

"I think" the birds "are an addition to the community," she said, "not a detriment."