Over 25 snow geese shot and dumped
Kings Contrivance, MD (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Mar 2, 2006
County: Howard
Disposition: Alleged
Abuser names unreleased
A man has told police he dumped dead geese near a Columbia tot lot, a police spokeswoman said this week.
A passerby found the remains of roughly 30 Canadian snow geese dumped near a tot lot in the Spring Breeze townhouse community, in Kings Contrivance, March 2
Police are consulting with Howard County State's Attorney Timothy McCrone to determine the appropriate charges in the case, said Sherry Llewellyn, a county police spokeswoman.
Llewellyn said police would not release the man's name, address or the date on which he approached police unless he was charged. She added that the man turned himself in at the Southern District police station, in Scaggsville.
The dumping of trash not exceeding 100 pounds carries up to a $1,000 fine or up to 30 days in jail, Llewellyn said.
Meanwhile, Maryland Department of Natural Resources police have completed their review of the case because shooting the birds is not illegal during the hunting season, said Lt. Brad Stafford, a Natural Resources police officer.
Authorities presume the dumping occurred when a hunter or hunters discarded the remains of geese they had killed. The dumping probably is related to the end of the hunting season for the birds, which occurs in late February, Stafford said. The geese appeared to have been shot and some were missing body parts, police said.
A Columbia Association spokeswoman reported finding the remains of 36 birds, while Howard police said the counted about 25 dead birds.
The president of a local animal rights group this week said that authorities should vigorously pursue the case.
"My group is against hunting and to me this is a new low," said Ann Selnick, president of Animal Advocates of Howard County, a citizens group. "It sets a terrible example for young people. I'm very pleased that police have chosen to pursue the case. I am disappointed that (the Department of Natural Resources) is not pursuing it. You want these people caught because it sets a bad example."
The birds migrate from Canada in the fall to Maryland's Eastern Shore, and are rare in Columbia.
Evasius, who is nine months pregnant, called officials of the Columbia Association, which owns the tot lot near where the animals were found, who arrived on the scene with county police and animal control officers and those of the Department of Natural Resources.
"I can't imagine that it would be someone in this neighborhood who did it," Evasius said about the dumping.
However, she added that, in the weeks prior to finding the snow geese, she found on a pathway a dead Canada goose, a species that is common in Columbia.
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