In Braintree, activists protest goose hunt on golf course

BRAINTREE -- About 15 members of the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition yesterday protested the city's decision to allow the hunting of Canada geese on the Braintree municipal golf course this winter, drawing occasional waves, hoots, and honks from passing drivers.

The protestors, from surrounding towns, the Cape, and central Massachusetts, stood on street corners and traffic islands at the intersection of Washington and Plain streets for two hours. Bundled in hats, gloves, and parkas, they waved a wooden goose carving and signs saying ''Stop the Slaughter" and ''No Blood for Golf."

''I love the geese. I know they go to the bathroom here and there, but there are other ways of removing them," said Jordan Gallagher, a 66-year-old retired construction worker from Dorchester. ''When man has a problem today, whether it's wolves, bears, or birds, the first thing they do is kill."

Last month selectmen, as they have done every year since 1995, lifted a ban on hunting to allow the annual shooting of birds to cut back on their population. About 100 to 400 Canada geese inundate the golf course with an estimated production of 1 to 3 pounds of droppings per goose per day, the golf course superintendent, Daryn Brown, said last month. Shotgun-wielding hunters can begin targeting the geese on Friday on certain parts of the golf course during the day.

Statewide, the resident Canada goose population has boomed from about 7,000 in 1970 to 40,000, according to the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. While federal law protects migratory Canada geese, resident geese, like those at the golf course, can be hunted.

Protesters want town and golf course officials to consider more humane methods to keep away the geese. Such methods, they said, have worked on golf courses in Plymouth, Boston, and Sharon. The methods include using lifelike coyote decoys, planting taller vegetation and installing large stones around ponds, and installing flags that ripple in the breeze to make noise. Brown said he has tried using a specially trained border collie to chase away the geese, but they returned.

Helen Rayshick, executive director of the coalition, said hunting geese does not prevent them from returning. The birds feed on the short, manicured grass on golf courses, she said. Canada geese mate for life and can die if their mates die, she said.

''Charles Kokoros, chairman of the Braintree Board of Selectmen, said he voted to allow the hunt because the goose droppings on the golf course and athletic fields presents a health issue for the town's children, including his two sons who play sports. Kokoros said the town has tried other methods to rid the fields and golf course of geese but nothing has worked.

''It's just way too many feces. It's impossible to clean up and they spread disease," said Kokoros, who drove past the protesters yesterday on his way to his dry-cleaning business. ''There are kids out there rolling in it, tackling in it. It isn't healthy."

The protesters plan to return to the same intersection, about a half-mile away from the golf course, at 1 p.m. Saturday.

''I think we need to recognize that these are wildlife and this is their habitat," said Steve Rayshick, Helen Rayshick's husband and an English professor from Barre. ''We need to find a humane way to live with them."

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.