Getting Them While They're Young

By Shannon in Miscellaneous on Mar 21, 2007 8:00PM

Easter’s coming up faster than we realize, as always. While we’re looking forward to the meager excuse for shoving our faces full of all things Cadbury, we regret that we never took part in one of the cornerstones of the holiday. No, it’s not welcoming Jesus back from the dead; it’s the classic hunt for Easter eggs. We figure since we’re all growns up, we missed out on the chance to get in on the famed childhood activity.

Boy, were we wrong! Next month, we have not one, but two chances to find eggs in a park. Two caveats, though: 1. they’re Canada goose eggs, and 2. they’re being hunted so that geese experts can destroy them. Er ... that changes the game a bit. (Indeed, it would seem children are not encouraged in this little smattering of population control.) As we’ve noted in the past, Chicago’s got a mighty Canada goose problem. Anyone who’s walked across a grassy field in flip-flops knows that much. Last year, the Park District enlisted Wild Goose Chase, a goose and seagull control group out of La Grange, to help reduce the geese population in four parks. That number goes to 11 during this year’s nesting, which lasts until the end of April.

Volunteers are needed to scour Grant Park on April 7 and Lincoln Park on April 14. Once an egg-filled nest has been spotted, a volunteer notifies the Wild Goose Chase expert with which s/he’s been paired. At that point, the expert either shakes the eggs or coats them with corn oil, inhibiting development; when the incubation period is over, the eggs are then buried. Supposedly this method is more humane than “rounding up the geese and gassing them,” as one Humane Society spokesperson puts it. We’ve got a simple, yet elegant, solution that would also stimulate the local economy. Here’s a hint: it involves liver. We can’t believe no one thought of this before!

Image courtesy of runjenrun01.