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RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION. WELL, GEESE ARE OUR FEATHERED NEIGHBORS AND THEY DON’T SEEM TO BE FAZED BY MUCH. NOW YOU MAY SPOT THEM ALONG A BUSY HIGHWAY AT YOUR NEIGHBOR PARK, NEIGHBORING PARK, OR OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOME. BUT HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW THEY’RE SO CALM IN THESE CONDITIONS? �������� THIRTEEN’S EMMA OWEN HELPS US GET THE ANSWER. SO HOW IS IT THAT GEESE CAN COMFORTABLY LIVE IN SUCH POPULATED AREAS? I TOOK THIS QUESTION TO ALAN YESTER, ZOOLOGICAL MANAGER OF THE BIRD DEPARTMENT AT THE BIRMINGHAM ZOO, TO LEARN HOW THEY THRIVE ALONGSIDE HUMANS. HE FIRST EXPLAINED THEIR HISTORY. A LOT OF THE GEESE THAT YOU SEE YEAR ROUND IN ALABAMA ARE A SUBSPECIES OF THE CANADA GOOSE, CALLED THE GIANT CANADA GOOSE. BY ABOUT THE EARLY 1900S, YESTER SAYS, IT WAS THOUGHT THE SUBSPECIES WAS EXTINCT BECAUSE OF OVERHUNTING AND PEOPLE COLLECTING THE EGGS. THEN, IN 1960, A SMALL POPULATION WAS FOUND IN MINNESOTA, AND SOME INDIVIDUALS WERE FOUND HELD BY PRIVATE AGRICULTURISTS. AFTER THIS, YESTER SAYS. REINTRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION EFFORTS BEGAN. THE GOSLINGS WERE RAISED IN CAPTIVITY AND THEN RELEASED HUMANS. WHILE ALMOST LED TO THEIR EXTINCTION, REALLY DID HELP EXPAND THEIR RANGE, NOT JUST BY THE REINTRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION, BUT ALSO BY NOT, MAYBE NOT INTENTIONALLY, BUT BY CREATING A GREAT HABITAT FOR THEM. LIKE AREAS LIKE THIS, LIKE A PARK WITH WHAT WE HAVE HERE AT THE ZOO, WITH A LOT OF GRASS AREAS WITH GRASS AND WATER ARE THE PREFERRED HANGOUT SPOT FOR GEESE. YESTER SAYS A COMBINATION WE FIND AT GOLF COURSES OUTSIDE LOCAL BUSINESSES AND IN SOME NEIGHBORHOODS AREAS. OF COURSE, WITH A LOT OF ACTIVITY BECAUSE THE LITTLE GOSLINGS WOULD GROW UP IN AN URBAN AREA AROUND PEOPLE, THEY REALLY WOULDN’T HAVE THAT MUCH FEAR. THE PARENTS WOULD PROTECT THEM, AND THEY WOULD ALSO COME BACK AND NEST IN AREAS VERY SIMILAR TO THAT. SO THERE WE HAVE IT. HUMANS HAVE CREATED PRIME REAL ESTATE FOR THE GIANT CANADA GOOSE, AND OVER GENERATIONS, THESE BIRDS HAVE ADAPTED TO THE HUSTLE AND BUSTLE OF METRO AREAS. OF COURSE, THOUGH, THEY’RE NOT EVERYONE’S FAVORITE NEIGHBOR. AS THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE EXPLAINS, GEESE CAN CAUSE ISSUES. GROWING POPULATIONS COULD LEAD TO OVERGRAZING OR AN ACCUMULATION OF DROPPINGS. GEESE ARE ALSO PROTECTIVE OF THEIR GOSLINGS AND CAN BECOME AGGRESSIVE, SO BEST PRACTICE HERE, ACCORDING TO YESTER. ENJOY THE GEESE FROM A DISTANCE. AND OF COURSE, ANOTHER THING TO KEEP IN MIND, YESTER SAYS YOU SHOULD NOT FEED THE BIRDS. HE SAYS GEESE HAVE PLENTY TO EAT, ADDING I