Auckland geese on death row may be saved thanks to viral video

July 10, 2019

Rob Thomas says he has been inundated with offers to rehome his feathered friends.

Thanks to his viral video, a local body politician is being flocked with offers to re-home the embattled geese of Auckland's Western Springs Park.

Waitematā Local Board member Rob Thomas made a plea on Facebook to re-locate rather than cull the park's more than 100 geese to around 20 to 28.

Nearly 60,000 views later, Mr Thomas said he was receiving offers in his inbox almost every hour from people wanting to take the geese home.

"I just got absolutely inundated... It's been quite phenomenal," Mr Thomas told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp.

"I have had people contact me and say, 'I've got my ute, I'm driving through, can I pick up a goose?'

"I've had to say, 'No, sorry, not right now'."

He said he had two messages for people.

"A, stop contacting me. And then B, it's going to take a little bit of time to coordinate ourselves to be able to respond."

Mr Thomas said there would be a process in place to find the best homes for the geese.

"I really appreciate the enthusiasm," he said. 

The proposal to cull the Western Springs flock came after concerns they were polluting the park's water and paths with excrement, with each one producing 1.3 kilograms worth each day.

"They are the equivalent of the cow in the bird world," Mr Thomas said.

Auckland Council's Simon Randall said council also tried to manage the park's geese population by "ethically controlling" the number of chicks born using addling — "a non-invasive way of sterilising an egg".

"We are increasing our service levels to water blast paths [and] to clean areas," he told 1 NEWS.

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