Activists and concerned residents in Foster City plan to protest the citys proposal to potentially euthanize more than 300 Canada geese and goslings that some say are taking over and contaminating the city.

The animal activists behind the protest, planned for Tuesday evening outside of City Hall, said the citys interest in partnering with the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services to control the citys swelling goose population would be a massacre that is both inhumane and temporary at best.

From 2020 to 2021, Foster Citys goose population doubled to the largest its ever been, city officials said, with 323 reported as of last June. The overpopulation has sparked ire from residents who say the birds, and their droppings in particular, are posing a threat to health and safety. Foster City officials said they intend to reserve euthanization as a last resort.

Where theres water, theres waterfowl, said protester and Larkspur resident Erik Allen, who organized Tuesdays protest along with the group In Defense of Animals. Its a waste of taxpayers dollars to do this, and its also horribly cruel, Allen said.

Protest affiliates such as Allen say the city, which has increasingly struggled over the last decade like many others to control its goose population, should only focus on nonlethal strategies, such as changing human behavior, landscape modifications, and more practical things, like purchasing a tow and collect machine to clean up droppings.

At least 14,000 people have signed a petition to stop the city from euthanizing the geese, according to In Defense of Animals campaigns director Lisa Levinson. The Marin County organization formed a National Goose Protection Coalition in 2019.

Activists say theyre worried city officials in Foster City, who have said in the past that euthanization is their last resort, will soon contract with the USDA to move forward with a depredation plan.

In 2021, the City Council voted to allow both nonlethal and lethal options to control the geese, and in last fall, the city applied for a permit with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service to move forward with a step that could include depredation or killing the geese because the birds are protected under federal law. The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services did not respond to a request for comment.

None of the members of the Foster City Council, including Mayor Richa Awasthi, responded to requests for comment, but they told news organizations that residents have long complained about goose droppings around public spaces, near their homes and schools, and in the water.

High bacteria levels in the water have been identified in the Foster City lagoon areas and have resulted in at least several temporary closures of beaches, including Erckenbrack Park Beach, said Foster City parks manager Frank Fanara. The city is also spending more money each year $21,500 from 2019 to 2020 to power-wash areas of the city besmirched by goose poop, Fanara said.

In a document titled Canada Geese Population Mitigation Plan, the city detailed several of its nonlethal strategies to control the geese population, which include dog hazing (where dogs harass and stalk geese to scare them away); strobe lights (placed at one of the citys parks); egg addling (a type of birth control); fence barriers (to block the geese from entering water); and goose deterrent (liquid placed on lawns that is repulsive to geese). The city has tried all of these methods already, officials said.

According to the document, nearly all of those methods, except for the strobe lights, worked, but only temporarily. Egg addling, a method of birth control, is a promising option that other cities, such as Santa Clara, have also experimented with, but its effects can take years.

City Council members have also said theyre concerned about greater health risks such as avian flu in the future if the droppings continue to proliferate around highly trafficked areas of the city.

The city says its planning to contract with a lagoon water management company to attempt several methods at clearing bacteria out of the water.

But activists such as Allen seem unfazed by the concerns and say that there are still cheaper options the city could consider, like ultrasonic repellers. Or better yet, Allen says, reconsider whether the geese, no matter how annoying, are a problem worth spending thousands to eradicate at all.

One of my earliest memories is my grandma taking me to feed the geese and ducks at Roberts Lake, said Allen, who added that the potential for hundreds of them being taken away was a thought he couldnt bear.

Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avainshtein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annievain

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Concerns over goose poop may lead this Bay Area city to kill off hundreds of Canada geese - San Francisco Chronicle