Allegheny County and federal officials last weekend rounded up and killed 272 of the Canada geese that live and breed in North Park where they enchant some picnic-goers and outrage others, largely because they produce a lot of droppings.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette In happier times -- geese cross Lake Shore Drive in North Park. Click photo for larger image. Poll: Do you agree with the decision to use lethal methods to control the goose population? Cast your vote.

Workers in North Park clean up about 400 pounds of goose feces every day, said county Parks Director Andy Baechle.

Officials have counted 550 and 700 geese in two separate census efforts, Mr. Baechle said.

But many people and some groups like the geese and have lobbied for their right to live in the park.

"We are outraged over the killing of the geese," said Rebecca Reid of Manchester, a member of Voices for Animals, a local animal rights group. "We thought we had an agreement."

County officials had met with group members in May and said "nonlethal methods" would be used to control the numbers of Canada geese, she said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture "has determined that the population of resident Canada geese in North Park exceeds the carrying capacity of resources. ... In addition, Canada geese remove and trample native vegetation, encourage erosion and displace timid species that use the same type of habitat," according to a county news release.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr. Baechle said, "We harvested 272 last Friday and Saturday. I am a naturalist by training and I really struggled with this. I didn't think we were going to use lethal measures, but the problem was worse than we thought."

The decision to kill many of the Canada geese "was made by my department and the county administration," he said.

USDA officials worked with county officials to round up the geese.

"They had two people out on the lake in canoes and a guy on land with a laser," Mr. Baechle said. "They walked the birds into an enclosure" and then put them into cages.

"The roundup was conducted calmly and humanely. They put them carefully into cages," loaded them onto a truck "and took them away to be euthanized humanely."

He said he was not sure what method was used to kill the birds. USDA officials could not be reached for comment last night.

The birds were taken to a meat packing plant in Latrobe. The meat will be given to area food banks if tests indicate it is healthy and safe to eat, county officials said.

"We hope this is the last time we have to resort to lethal methods to control the number of Canada geese," Mr. Baechle said. "The county has worked for 10 years using nonlethal methods."We put vegetable oil on the eggs, which stops them from developing."

County workers have also tried cutting down grasses that provide nesting areas, using devices that are supposed to scare the geese away and posting "no feeding" signs, which many members of the public have largely ignored.

"We met with people from GeesePeace and they said we were doing the right things, but we weren't necessarily doing things the right way," Mr. Baechle said.

GeesePeace Director David Feld met with county officials early last month and will do so again, Mr. Feld said yesterday.

"When I was here in June, it was too late to help the population this year," he said. "County officials did not find enough nests. They needed to look beyond their own property and they should have put oil on the eggs sooner -- in April."