News 12 has discovered the borough of Spring Lake uses lethal methods to remove geese.

We first brought you the story earlier this month. The boroughs of Lake Como and Spring Lake hired a dog to chase geese away from a neighboring lake, but it turns out in Spring Lake, it's only part of their geese mitigation program.

There are fewer geese surrounding the lake this morning. On Saturday, a private company, hired by Spring Lake, captured at least two dozen geese and killed them. 

A photo was taken by a viewer showing the caged geese on the shore of Lake Como.

Two weeks ago, News 12 reported the boroughs of Spring Lake and Lake Como hired a dog, Galaxy, to chase away geese. At the time, Spring Lake did not disclose to News 12 they also use lethal methods. A company called Goose Control Technology confirmed with News 12 they rounded the geese up Saturday. Once a year they capture geese in town, and euthanize them.  

“I think euthanasia is a little bit sad,” says Mary Dunn, of Belmar. “I would rather them somehow get the geese to go elsewhere. I don't know how you go about doing that either so.”

The Spring Lake borough administrator confirmed to News 12 they have the proper legal federal permits to hire the company, and have used them since 2010.  

Animal advocates say non-lethal methods, like adding native plants and landscaping to the surrounding shores, will keep the problematic geese away. 

“I think that we have to open our eyes to the life that surrounds us and honor it and respect it,” says Susan Russell, wildlife policy director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey.

She called the rounding up of the birds “an affront” to anyone with a “humane sensibility.”

Lake Como officials tell News 12 they will continue to use the dog in controlling geese on their side of the lake. 

“With the town that I used to live in, we had a huge geese problem and the dog chasing the geese definitely helped,” says Maria Urso, of Belmar.

The Animal Protection League of New Jersey says they have convinced dozens of towns in the state to switch to non-lethal geese mitigation. Many people that spoke with News 12 today who live in Spring Lake did not want to go on camera, but they said they would support any future methods which don't involve killing the geese.