04/14/01

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Wildlife Services, state wildlife agencies and local public health officials have routinely relied on claims that non-migratory waterfowl pose serious threats to human health to justify programs designed to reduce populations of "resident" Canada geese and other non-migratory waterfowl the country. For example, the Fish and Wildlife Service has cited such claims in the Federal Register and in environmental impact assessments to justify relaxing the agency's nation-wide regulations for issuing permits to control "resident" Canada geese, and USDA/APHIS Wildlife Services has relied on the same claims in environmental assessments justifying programs to capture and kill "resident" Canada geese in Wisconsin and Washington. However, a new report from the U. S. Department of the Interior now shows those claims to be bogus.

Recently the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison, Wisconsin, posted a completion report on its web site for a study entitled, Screening for potential human pathogens in fecal material deposited by resident Canada geese on areas of public utility. In the study, fecal specimens were collected from four sites in each of three states (Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia) used daily by "resident" Canada geese, and they were examined for two viruses, five bacteria, and three parasites potentially pathogenic for humans.

Chlamydia psittaci, a bacterium commonly found in birds that may cause disease in humans, was isolated in 13 samples from two states, and a rotovirus, which commonly cause diarrhea in birds and mammals, including humans, was isolated from one site. However, it was not determined that the Chlamydia and the rotovirus were infectious. In addition, there are no documented cases of humans contracting chlamydiosis from "resident" Canada geese, and transmission of rotoviruses between birds and mammals is believed to be rare.

The NWHC report concludes that, "Low frequency of positive cultures indicate that risk of humans to disease through contact with Canada goose feces appeared to be minimal at the four sites in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia during the summer and early fall of 1999." Thus, this report from the Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division confirms the lack of credible scientific evidence that "resident" Canada geese and other non-migratory waterfowl pose a significant threat to human health, and it refutes the claims of human health risks used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA/APHIS Wildlife Services and various state agencies and local jurisdictions to justify programs and policies designed to capture and kill non-migratory waterfowl.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is an agency of the Department of the Interior and USDA/APHIS Wildlife Services, state wildlife agencies and others must obtain permits from the Fish and Wildlife Service to capture or kill wild waterfowl.