Fowl Play: Homeowners Association's Botched Geese Removal Attempt Led to 10 Birds Drowning

By Ayumi Davis On 12/10/21 at 7:29 PM EST

The SilverLakes homeowners association hired a company, Pest Wildlife Pro, which then mismanaged a geese removal attempt that resulted in 10 birds drowning Tuesday.

Some residents of the suburban Fort Lauderdale neighborhood found the geese to be loud pooping machines, while others saw them as majestic, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The homeowners association then decided to hire the pest company to remove 25 geese.

Rolando Calzadilla, the company's owner, said he gave the geese bread laced with sedatives, but a loud car startled the birds, causing them to fly off. While Calzadilla was able to recover 15 of the birds and euthanize them elsewhere, ten fell into the lake nearby and drowned. He said he never meant for any cruelty, according to Local 10 News.

"It was for them to remain on land, fall asleep, pick them up and take them away and then humanely euthanize them," Calzadilla said, Local 10 News reported.

Calzadilla said that while he was retrieving the birds, residents who took notice of him charged at him and were yelling and screaming. He said "the situation was out of control," and had to call the police for help.

"Everyone hates the dog catcher in the neighborhood. It was just a bad situation," he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Residents that enjoy the geese and name them are "never, never the same people" who have bad experiences with them, Calzadilla said.

According to Local 10 News, the homeowners association sent a letter to residents, saying, "...The Associations contract with Pest Wildlife Pro required that the vendor remove the birds by legal means in compliance with all Federal, State and local laws and ordinances. Please be assured that SilverLakes is discussing the actions taken by the trapper and will address any deviation from the contract."

Florida, Geese Removal, Fail, Drowning — Rolando Calzadilla, who owns a pest removal company, said that when he was recovering the 15 geese he was able to, some residents in the suburban Fort Lauderdale neighborhood took notice of what he was doing and got so angry with him that he had to call the police. In this photo, two Canada geese head for what water is left at Lake Mendocino as the water level dropped to 29 percent capacity on June 2, 2021, near Ukiah, California. George Rose/Getty Images

The homeowners association officers refused comment to the paper, but sent a notice to residents Wednesday saying the geese population had been "rapidly increasing" and had become aggressive.

The letter called the drownings an "unfortunate matter" and that Calzadilla was expected to follow all laws and ordinances, including local ones. The association had gotten complaints that the geese were eating flowers.

But Miramar government officials have put the blame on the homeowners association, sending the officers a letter Thursday that the association could be facing an unspecified fine. The city is a bird sanctuary and its code says it is illegal to hunt, wound, molest, injure or kill any bird within its limits. Calzadilla was not cited.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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