Local game officials are investigating two more incidents in which geese were shot and dumped, without being butchered, in northern Lancaster County.

The slaughter of migrating snow geese and Canada geese has outraged sportsmen and nature lovers alike.

The most recent discoveries bring to three the number of waterfowl dumping incidents in the county. Another has been reported in York County. In all, 99 geese have been recovered in the four incidents.

Last Friday, a Pennsylvania Game Commission maintenance crew doing brush cutting on Game Lands 46 near Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area discovered 25 carcasses of recently shot snow geese.

The geese were found on the edge of Segloch Run, near where the stream flows under the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Hopeland Road, on the Elizabeth-Clay Township line.

All 25 geese had been shot and none had had any of the edible meat removed, said Steve Martin, federal aid supervisor for the agency in the southeastern regional office.

"Whoever did it had to get out of their vehicle and carry them upstream and dump them," Martin observed.

After getting a complaint, game wardens recently discovered the decomposing carcasses of 17 Canada geese in a field near Brownstown.

The geese had been shot and, like other recent incidents, had not been butchered. It appeared the geese had been dumped for some time, perhaps from early in the goose season, which ended Jan. 24.

The spate of goose-dumping incidents in the county began on March 10 when Denver Borough workers, acting on a complaint from a borough resident, found 32 snow geese illegally dumped in Cocalico Creek. None had been butchered.

Officials said it appeared the geese may have been dumped from a bridge on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

In the York County incident, Game Commission officials investigated 25 unbutchered snow geese found Feb. 8 on a property owner's land in West Manchester Township.

The Game Commission this week also was called to a possible snow goose-dumping incident in a sinkhole on a farmer's field off of Creek Road in Manheim Township. But the birds had had their breasts removed.

There was no violation unless the geese had been dumped there without the farmer's permission, in which case there could be a littering charge. As of Wednesday, a game warden hadn't been in contact with the farmer.

In the cases where geese have been shot and discarded without any meat harvested, violators could face state and federal charges, collectively known as "wanton waste."

"If it's sportsmen who did it, it's a black eye," Stephen Mohr, a Bainbridge resident and president of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, said this morning.

"But until the person who did it is located, I'd have to keep an open mind. It could have been someone who hates the geese, too. There could be some circumstances we're not aware of."

The three goose-dumping incidents in northern Lancaster County are all not far from the Middle Creek wildlife area, a magnet for migrating waterfowl this time of year.

Tens of thousands of snow geese rest at Middle Creek for days or even weeks in late winter and early spring as they fly thousands of miles northward to breeding grounds in Alaska, east along the Arctic coast and islands of Canada, and as far east as Greenland and south to James Bay.

Both migrating and resident populations of Canada geese may be found in Lancaster County.

Hunters have been urged to legally shoot snow geese this year and the hunting season was extended through April 1 because of a dangerous over-population problem.

Snow goose populations have reached levels that are causing extensive and possibly irreversible damage to their arctic and sub-arctic breeding grounds, wildlife biologists note.

Martin observed that goose-dumping had not been a problem until 32 snow geese were found dumped near Speedwell Forge Lake around this time a year ago.

"My guess is this is being done by a very small handful of people. More than likely, the same group is responsible for several of these incidents. Not that many people shoot that many geese."

Martin said the agency has no solid leads in any of the incidents. The Game Commission would like to hear from anyone who has any information. Call the southeast regional office at 610-926-3136.


Staff writer Ad Crable can be reached at acrable@LNPnews.com or 481-6029.