Canada Geese versus NZ Police
December 28, 2024 8:03 PM Subscribe
The eerie quiet period between Christmas and New Years can make for a slow day in local newsrooms struggling for material. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the public broadcaster RadioNZ, chose to run a remarkable triple header - useful road-safety information for holiday travelers, an amusing headline containing a rhyme and a tiny hint of terror about a potential avian uprising - "Geese v police, as geese take over Auckland highway". The Canada Goose, or Kuihi in Maori, was introduced to the country in 1905. People can take the Canada Goose, Very Seriously (cue obligatory Letterkenny). No geese were harmed in this particular interaction and no knives were pulled.
All Geese are Bastards.
posted by Naberius at 10:48 PM on December 28 [6 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 10:48 PM on December 28 [6 favorites]
there's a park near me where the geese have completely taken over. And no, they can't claim "we were here first". That particular park was deep thick forest for time immemorial, unsuitable for any large awkward water bird. But then all the trees got cut down and, noticing a marshy area, we (local humans) decided to make a lake of it. Only then did the geese start showing up, en masse.
Yes they're amazing birds, but they're shitty neighbours. Accent on the shit part.
posted by philip-random at 11:55 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
Yes they're amazing birds, but they're shitty neighbours. Accent on the shit part.
posted by philip-random at 11:55 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]
Citizens of New Zealand - I'm sorry.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 7:36 AM on December 29 [1 favorite]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 7:36 AM on December 29 [1 favorite]
In the outer suburbs around here there is lots of fancy* places that have what are called 'water features', and these little green areas have become home to Canadian geese. Of course it drives the locals mad that some actual animals have actually taken up residence in their fake little golf ponds. A goose destroys the illusion of control, smashes the order of the suburbs.
Like a pigeon in the city, the humans have built geese a perfect home. It's the goose that thrives in these little fragments of nature, living their best life out on the periphery. At the apex of western civilization sits a Canadian goose, living rent free and hated for it. The terrible neighbor is us.
*it is a luxury to have a wide empty road built just for me, where I could quickly drive by every service and good I could possible want from my large secluded home to shiny office, and everything was orderly and everyone was like me. So I understand the dream of the goose free sprawl.
posted by zenon at 11:31 AM on December 29 [1 favorite]
Like a pigeon in the city, the humans have built geese a perfect home. It's the goose that thrives in these little fragments of nature, living their best life out on the periphery. At the apex of western civilization sits a Canadian goose, living rent free and hated for it. The terrible neighbor is us.
*it is a luxury to have a wide empty road built just for me, where I could quickly drive by every service and good I could possible want from my large secluded home to shiny office, and everything was orderly and everyone was like me. So I understand the dream of the goose free sprawl.
posted by zenon at 11:31 AM on December 29 [1 favorite]
A goose destroys the illusion of control, smashes the order of the suburbs.
Mostly it just shits everywhere. I don't think there's any deeper subtext.
posted by Naberius at 1:35 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
Mostly it just shits everywhere. I don't think there's any deeper subtext.
posted by Naberius at 1:35 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
On behalf of Canada, I'd like to apologize for whatever idiot decided to export these birds to a very fragile ecosystem!
posted by Canageek at 2:17 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Canageek at 2:17 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
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posted by Faint of Butt at 8:24 PM on December 28 [2 favorites]