The internet was in an uproar after a video surfaced showing a homeowner's association representative reportedly destroying goose eggs.
The clip appeared in a post on an anti-HOA subreddit. "Came across this video making rounds across the internet," said the original poster. "The source filmed a day or so ago at the lake within the Beaver Run neighborhood of Columbus, GA."
The video shows two people approaching a nesting goose at the edge of a body of water. One man shoos the goose off the nest, then picks several eggs up out of the nest and hurls them away.
"They say it's an HOA board member who has a permit to destroy geese nests. But not sure if the method shown here is legal, even with the permit they say they have from USFWS?" said the original poster, referring to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It doesn't appear the guy destroyed the nest. Just kicked the bird sitting on the nest and tossed the eggs in the lake."
Commenters were appalled and also doubted the legality of the act. "This is clearly a Canada Goose," said one user. "Canada Geese are protected under federal law by the Migratory Bird Treaty Acts, such that you cannot damage, disturb, or collect individuals, eggs, or nests without a permit. This behavior is reportable to the state Fish and Wildlife department."
"This violates the migratory waterfowl act of 1918. This is a federal crime," agreed another commenter.
Behavior like this has a dramatic impact on bird populations. Disrupting nests and damaging eggs means the birds can't replenish their population and replace the individual members that die each year. It's a surefire way to push a species closer to extinction.
Unfortunately, HOAs have been known to ignore environmental concerns and the law in favor of trying to eliminate the noise and mess of wild birds.
But the original poster had no faith that their local law enforcement would step in.
"Getting answers from the USFWS office over this area is pretty useless," they said. "It's the same area that issued a permit for a developer to cut down a tree Bald Eagle's were nesting in late last year. When people produced evidence that the nest was active, the same office pretty much looked the other way until the tree was cut down."
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