Alaska Emperor Goose In Migration Illegally Killed In Washington State

From the La Conner Weekly News in Washington State, an Alaskan emperor goose, which with its mate migrated from the Last Frontier south, was shot illegally. Here’s more on the incident:

Gary Bletsch was at March’s Point Dec. 5, 2021, doing what he does most days – looking at birds. When he spotted a pair of rare emperor geese among the brants and other waterfowl in the area, he sent a quick note to a bird research listserv run out of the University of Washington to alert other birders to his find. Then he went back to watching and saw something no birder ever wants to see; hunters in a blind on one of the islands offshore started shooting. He then saw a lone brant goose on the water, clearly wounded. And next he saw one of the two emperor geese he had spotted, swimming erratically directly toward the hunting blind. It, too, was wounded. 

Bletsch knows a lot about birds in this area and he knew goose hunting season was over. He also knew the only geese hunters are allowed to harvest during hunting season are those that are pictured in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife guidelines. Emperor geese are indigenous to Alaska, not Washington state and rarely migrate here. They are definitely not legal prey. 

The eyewitness ultimately led Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers to the hunters in question, who admitted to the shooting of the protected goose and will likely pay significant fines.