Boswell’s historical ‘Wild Goose Chase’ published across Postmedia network

Journalism professor Randy Boswell’s deep dive into the history of Canada geese was published Nov. 8 across the Postmedia News network, including the Ottawa Citizen, National Post and Vancouver Sun. The story, the latest in Postmedia’s “Long Reads” series of in-depth features and investigative articles, explores how the giant Canada goose subspecies — Branta canadensis maxima — has become a much-loathed, overabundant urban pest in 21^st-century North America after being prematurely declared extinct in the mid-20^th.

Boswell recounts the 1962 discovery of a single, surviving flock of giant Canadas on a Minnesota lake by American waterfowl biologist Dr. Harold Hanson. After tracing the geese to their Manitoba breeding grounds, Hanson and other wildlife management experts in the U.S. and Canada initiated a population recovery effort that was hailed at the time as one of the greatest success stories in the history of conservation.

“To say there was widespread excitement in North America over the rediscovery of the giant Canada goose is seriously understating the maxima fervour sparked by Hanson’s 1962 achievement,” Boswell writes. “Over the next quarter-century, there was a concerted push by countless conservation groups, hunting clubs, local governments, state agencies, provincial ministries, research institutes, private landowners and others to ensure that the lost-and-found subspecies would rebound spectacularly from the brink of extinction.”

And so it did — exponentially: “It was becoming clear as early as the mid-1970s that a potential problem was developing.” The giant Canadas adapted so well to the landscaped green spaces of modern cities, where food was plentiful and predators absent, that they reproduced prolifically and, in many instances, stopped migrating. These “resident” geese are the “nuisance” populations now plaguing urban centres across the continent, including Ottawa.

The story features insights from long-time Carleton biology professor Michael Runtz, one of Canada’s best-known naturalists, whose recent retirement from teaching will be spotlighted at the university Nov. 13 with a special lecture and celebration honouring his legacy as an educator, author and wildlife advocate.

Summing up the state of the Canada goose problem, Runtz says in the story: “The animals are the innocent participants in this. They never asked to be bred and nurtured. And so, we can only blame ourselves.”

Monday, November 10, 2025 in Journalism News, News
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