Goose eggs reportedly smashed with hammer at shopping center
By Krista Tatschl, Chloe Godding
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INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (KMBC) — A violent act against some beloved geese has left community members heartbroken.
On Monday, store owners at Independence Center posted on social media a photo of a nest destroyed.
KMBC 9 spoke with staff at a local jewelry shop right by the eggs, which were in a large red flower pot. Employees say a customer saw a woman notice the eggs, retrieve a hammer from her truck and smash the eggs before driving off. The expecting goose parents flew down and began squawking at the wreckage of their nest, left without any goslings.
“Who would do such a thing?” said Tameka Bryant, the general manager at Independence Center. “We knew it was days, probably minutes before these babies would be born.”
Canada geese are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. That means it’s illegal to harm, kill, sell or possess them or to destroy their eggs or nests without proper permits. Breaking those laws could result in a fine of up to $15,000 or jail time.
That didn’t stop an attacker from ruining the nest.
“She needs to be prosecuted,” Bryant said. “You don’t come up and end someone’s — you just took a whole family and destroyed a family. … There are laws.”
But, in a moment of light, the geese got a taste of what they are ready for: parenthood.
Jen Cline with Babe’s Ducks Waterfowl Rescue in Blue Springs, Missouri, came out to Independence Center on Tuesday and brought a recently rehabbed gosling with her.
“The cool thing about Canada geese is they will adopt babies,” Cline said. “And so, since they lost their babies, and they clearly are very good parents, I feel like this baby will be good with them and for them.”
That gosling needs a little bit more time to rehab, but Cline said they plan to return the gosling back to the geese at Independence Center.
No one has been caught in the egg-smashing, but there are security cameras around the center. The Missouri Department of Conservation was notified of the crime.
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