By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

The Ocean Pines Environment and Natural Assets Committee is considering how to minimize the community’s geese population best but first wants to see if a shoreline restoration project has an impact before officially offering a recommendation.

ENAC Chair Patricia Garcia said that the group is having trouble finding vendors who offer population control methods that it considers the least cruel.

The committee has previously considered egg addling. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service defines this technique as “managing birds that cause damage to property, agriculture, and natural resources or are potential threats to public safety.” The process includes oiling, shaking, or puncturing an egg “during incubation to render the embryo unviable. The eggs are put back in the nest, so the adult birds believe they are still developing and do not feel the need to lay anymore.”

Environmental committee members confirm that while addling itself is simple, safely getting the geese off the nest and keeping them at bay during the process is challenging. At the group’s Oct. 23 meeting, ENAC Chair Patricia Garcia said she is “unwilling to go in and do anything with goose egg nests.”

“We, as the committee, are trying to come up with alternatives to minimize any cruelty going on,” ENAC member Anne O’Connell said. “Egg addling is not great, but it is a solution. We need to find somebody that is well versed in doing it.”

Garcia noted that the shoreline restoration project may also decrease the geese population. The project, to be completed via a partnership between the Ocean Pines Association and the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, includes growing native vegetation around the South Gate Pond, like grass and flowers, to combat erosion. The initiative was approved in January.

ENAC Board Liaison Jeff Heavner said while the previous meeting between OPA and the MCBP was postponed, the partners are currently working on the project.

“We have that coming, so let’s see if that helps anything,” Garcia said. “…the next steps will be to see what happens.”