The Alpena Municipal Council recently approved programs to take care of the overcrowding of Canada geese and invasive mute swans by killing some of the birds.

Mute swans damage the environment around them and bully other waterfowl out of the habitat they share, News staff writer Steve Schulwitz reported recently. The population of native trumpeter swans is already well below that of the mute swan.

Meanwhile, geese in Alpena create messes in green spaces with their feces and can be aggressive toward people.

The city has already tried multiple methods short of outright killing the animals to control the population.

In 2021, for example, the city began working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources via the Mute Swan Management and Control Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services, to help reduce the number of mute swans in Alpena. The state has destroyed swan nests and eggs to help limit population increases, but city leaders say those techniques, although effective, aren’t enough to help limit the population of mute swans and allow the trumpeter swans to thrive.

With such efforts failing to do enough, the city has approved a goose hunt and authorized a program for targeted euthanization of adult male mute swans.

We know many people will oppose those moves, but we believe the killings are necessary.

We must protect our native wildlife and protect our green spaces and our residents and guests from aggressive waterfowl.