Feathers ruffled over plans to evict pond geese

The geese, who are a bonded pair, currently live in the Stillington village pond

A North Yorkshire village is in "uproar" over plans to evict two geese from the local pond.

The bonded pair have been residents of Townend Pond, off Stillington's High Street, for about two years, and have become much-loved characters.

However, Stillington Parish Council has decided that in the interests of road safety, the geese should be returned to their owners or rehomed to a more suitable pond.

In response, villagers have organised a campaign to save the birds from removal with a petition that has garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

Molly Dickman, 22, who lives across the road from the pond, owns the white goose, which she calls Lucy Goosey.

"People are saying that they don't like the noise they make and the mess they make and that it's a hazard to the road safety, which isn't really fair," she said.

"They have been here for nearly two years and they've just decided they want to get rid of them."

Molly Dickman has thanked the community for rallying around the geese

Lucy Goosey, who Molly hand-reared, used to live in her garden pond but kept returning to the public pond with her former mate.

When it was clear she had settled there, a Chinese goose joined her to keep her company.

Villagers found out about the plans to move the geese during a parish council meeting on 2 July, but said they had not been consulted.

The row came down to the geese living too close to a main road, which parish councillors feared could cause crashes.

A fence next to the pond previously allowed the birds to slip through but according to Molly, a green mesh has now been put up to stop this from happening.

A parish council statement said: "It was agreed that in the interests of road safety that the geese would be offered back to their owners and if they did not wish to take them back, they would be rehomed together once a suitable pond was found."

Molly explained the resolution had caused people to leap into action.

"It's caused a bit of uproar I think. This week, everyone's gone kind of crazy about it," she said.

"We're trying to get everyone to come together and outnumber people who are saying no, which is clear that we already are, as well as trying to keep it safe for everyone and for the geese."

Denise and her grandson are helping to petition locals

Backing her is villager Denise Smith, 57, who helped to petition other locals.

She was joined by her daughter and grandson, who made a sign calling for the geese to be saved.

"We've got to do something about it. I've been here for 25 years, my daughter has grown up with ducks on here," she said.

"That's their home, they've made it their home, why turf them out now after all this time?"

Instead, Denise suggested signs could be placed in the area to warn traffic about the geese.

"Tholthorpe has a bigger pond than ours, they've got hundreds of ducks living on theirs and they've got signs around the village," she added.

"They can do it here if they do it in other places."

Brothers Seth and Maddox joined the protest

Brothers Seth and Maddox also joined the campaign with a handmade sign.

"They're part of this village and they're basically like people. I don't think they should go, it's not right," Seth said.

Other villagers joined in by "honking their horns to save the geese" and leaving comments of support on social media.

Molly thanked those who had contributed to the cause.

"I really don't think anyone was expecting them to be such a big part of not only our village, but all the surrounding villages as well," she said.

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