Urban populations of Canada geese, greylag geese, and mute swans create management challenges when populations grow large, with lethal control often proposed despite welfare concerns and the availability of non-lethal alternatives.
Urban goose management creates welfare tensions between the welfare of individual geese and the genuine management challenges large populations create for recreational spaces. Egg oiling prevents hatching without causing acute suffering to adults, representing a more welfare-positive population control method than shooting adult birds. Habitat management that reduces the attractiveness of sites to geese provides long-term population management without ongoing lethal control. Respecting public attachment to urban waterfowl while managing welfare-sensitive population control requires transparent communication about methods and rationale.