A prestigious private tennis club, frequented by celebrities and billionaires, has secretly shot and killed eight Canada geese, including goslings, after the birds allegedly made a mess on the courts. The St. George's Hill Lawn Tennis Club, located in Weybridge, Surrey, within a gated estate known as the UK's Beverly Hills, carried out the cull early on July 16. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots in the early hours of the morning.
The club, which charges £2,664 in annual fees and a £2,000 entrance charge for new members, has a history of posting photos of the geese on its social media. In April of the previous year, the club shared a photo of two adult geese with goslings, captioned 'We have baby goslings on our Lakeside Terrace!' This past year, another post featured a family of geese on the courts with the caption, 'At least the Canadian geese family enjoyed the courts today.'
However, the tranquil setting has been disrupted by the culling. Some members expressed outrage on social media, with one stating that a surviving adult and gosling were found in a distressed state. "The tennis club claim they were pests and murdered them by the club's lake which they used as their home much to the delight of the young and old club members. Such barbaric action in a situation where local wildlife organisations would have taken them in," the member wrote.
Longstanding members confirmed that the geese were generally liked by the club's 3,700 members, although they acknowledged the birds occasionally ambled onto the courts and left droppings. "But that does not mean they had to be shot," one member told The Times. "It's a private estate and the residents are concerned about a firearm being brought in without any warning."
Another player noted that the club management ordered the culling without consulting members. "The club is in a beautiful setting and the birds were part of that," the player said.
Some members suggested that the birds had been relocated to a nearby lake at Claremont Landscape Garden, rather than killed. However, the club's chief executive, Miles Hill, issued a statement confirming the culling was carried out on the grounds of public health and safety. He stated that grounds staff were unable to manage the volume of feces produced by the birds.
The shooting was reportedly conducted by a contractor holding a license from Natural England for culling certain species to preserve public health or safety. Canada geese, which are believed to have been introduced to the UK in 1664, have seen their numbers grow significantly. The British Trust for Ornithology estimates the current UK population to be around 160,000, with numbers doubling since 1984. Adult Canada geese can produce approximately 1kg of droppings daily.
The club is reportedly exploring measures to prevent geese from gathering in heavily used areas, rather than relying on relocation.