Protestors Gather to Save Geese

About a half dozen members of Friends of the White Geese held protests along the Charles River near Boston University yesterday to protest landscaping changes they said harm the geese that inhabit the site.

"The geese are trying to nest," said Marilyn Z. Wellons, a member of the group. "And they can't do it because the area has been cleaned and landfill has been put in."

"They've become the aviary equivalent of persona non grata," she added.

The geese come to this small patch of land near a busy four-way intersection by the Boston University bridge every spring to nest.

The nesting area had been protected by fences and left to grow wild until last November. At that time, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), which is in charge of Boston-area parks, filled the area with soil and seeded grass. Now, people can walk down to the river on a gravel path.

The changes will eventually allow the MDC to build a walkway under the bridge so visitors to the beach can avoid the busy intersection.

Wellons said she wants officials to replace the fence to keep people and their dogs out of the geese's nesting area.

The group plans to return every day to hand out fliers with pictures of the geese that denounce the "secret extermination" of "these famously brave animals."

"We are in it for the long run because the enemies of our environment are in it for the long run," said Robert J. La Tremouille, who said he and the others plan to hand out fliers every night for the next few days.

As commuters drove home at the end of the day, some of them honked to show their support for white geese that live along the Charles River.

Wellons said she believes the change has already harmed the geese.

"The MDC counted 88 [geese] last summer," Wellons said. "We consistently count 74, so I'd like to know what happened to the intervening 14."

Reen Littlebrook, who said he has fed the geese almost every day for the past five years, said the birds are "somewhat confused" this nesting season, given the changes to their surroundings.

"They're just like us," he said. "Some of them are very gregarious. Some of them are mean."

"I was raised with geese," added Littlebrook, who is a member of the Lakota nation from Montana. "They are precious birds."

He feeds them cracked corn and bread.

"I get it for seven or seven and a half dollars for a 50 pound bag, which is very reasonable," he said.

Yesterday was a long day for Littlebrook. He came at noon to feed the geese.

"As soon as they see me, they squawk," he said.

Past six o'clock, Littlebrook was still there, tending for an injured bird and watching the geese retreat towards the water as night fell.

Littlebrook has come to know the geese so well he can identify individual birds and their birth years--from the distinctive brown goose to the gander with a bump on his head, whom Littlebrook calls a "dirty old man."