It’s no secret that the beaches at Lake Sammamish State Park can be like walking through a land mine of goose feces. With large expanses of grass, the park is a buffet for the large birds and their offspring.

No one enjoys laying on the grass only to discover that you just laid in goose poop.

An effort to reduce the amount of goose poop left by Canadian geese at Lake Sammamish State Park has drawn the ire of a Klahanie wildlife and animal advocate.

Diane Weinstein has questioned the way the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is using to kill the geese – gassing them in chambers. More than 90 geese were rounded up and euthanized on June 21.

“They do this in secrecy,” Weinstein said. “They wait until they’re molting and can’t fly, because it’s easier to round them up.”

She said they round up the geese into pens, and shove them in the back of a USDA truck which doubles as a gas chamber. She said the pens are too small for them to stand up.

More than 1,000 people have signed a petition by Action for Animals to protest the practice.

However, Virginia Painter, spokesperson for Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, said they are not crammed in the trucks, in fact USDA made extra sure the birds had plenty of room. Then they use carbon dioxide, or CO2, which makes the birds go to sleep, painlessly. This method is deemed humane by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The CO2 is like anesthesia. Within 30 to 60 seconds the geese are asleep with no pain, and dead in about another minute.

“Nobody really likes doing this, but we’re trying to balance the species,” Painter said. “We’ve tried for 30 years to remove the geese … or get them to go away.”

In the whole spectrum of things, USDA manages the species. Matt Cleland is the district supervisor and a wildlife biologist with USDA/APHIS (animal, plant health inspection services). He said the USDA/APHIS started doing goose work 25 years ago.

“We had the chambers built specifically for the geese, designed with help from the Animal Welfare division of APHIS,” Cleland said. “It’s their responsibility to make sure animals are handled humanely.”

Other efforts to rid the park of geese have included using cutouts of predators, herd dogs, and sour-tasting substance as goose repellents to get the geese to leave. Wildlife officials also have used egg addling, temporarily removing fertilized eggs from the nest, testing for embryo development, terminating the development, and placing the egg back in the nest. Returning the egg to the nest leads the goose into believing the egg is still developing. Otherwise, the goose would begin laying again.

For the state, the issue is one of health safety.

“(Geese) can drop up to a pound of poop each per day,” Painter said. “It carries a lot of bacteria: Salmonella, giardia and cryptosporidia. E-coli is more prominent in areas of lots of goose poop.”

Painter said the goose droppings also can contaminate the lake by causing green algae bloom, which can kill fish and make swimmers really sick.

Weinstein said she has worked with animal welfare groups and the Seattle Park Department to clean up goose poop at Magnuson Park.

“You need signs telling people not to feed the geese,” she said.

Cleland said Lake Sammamish State Park does have signage about not feeding the geese and if a park ranger catches that happening, people will be asked to stop.

While the geese are protected by the migratory bird act, Cleland said the USDA has a permit issued by the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove them.

To sign the petition visit http://www.change.org/petitions/washington-state-parks-officials-stop-killing-geese.