Columbiana City Council makes it illegal to feed geese

COLUMBIANA, Ohio - Months ago, Mill Creek Park was forced to euthanize geese.
Now, Columbiana County officials are trying to find ways of getting rid of the large black and white pests.
Considering the cold and rainy conditions on Tuesday, it was a day only fit for ducks at Firestone Park. But, according to Columbiana officials, the park is usually littered with flocks of Canada geese.
They have posted signs at the park asking people to stop feeding the geese, but folks haven't listened. So, now city council voted to make it illegal.
"Every time you go out there, it's covered in geese feces and everything else. So, it's one of two choices: you can take action where you're killing these geese, which people don't want, or this type of action where you can scare them off and hope to control the population of them down there," said Columbiana Mayor Bryan Blakeman.
Officials said feeding the geese makes them flock to the park. It's bad for the park, people who visit it because of all the goose droppings, and it's bad for the geese themselves.
"For example, stunted growth and wing deformities if you feed them the wrong things. The geese will keep coming if you keep feeding them, so we want to prevent that," said Lance Wilard, Columbiana City Manager.
The new ordinance forbids feeding all wildlife at the park, including ducks and fish and that had saddened some councilmen.
"I go down to feed the fish, take my grandkids down to feed the fish, but we have to put some bite into our signage," said Ted Souder, Columbiana City Council.
Police will likely issues warnings at first, but habitual feeders will be fined $150 for the first offense and then $500 after that. You could even get 60 days in jail.
And nobody wants to be a jailbird for just feeding the birds.