Photo: Kate Harper~McGregor

Over the past 14 years, officials with the Okanagan Valley Goose Management program believe they have prevented the current population of geese from growing out of control.

Through the process of egg addling, it's believed between 10,000 and 14,000 geese have been prevented from entering the population. That is on top of the thousands of offspring they would have also produced.

Addling is a process in which unhatched eggs are shaken, or coated with a non-toxic food grade corn oil to make the egg non-viable.

The egg is returned to the nest and, by the time the goose realizes the eggs won't hatch, it's typically too late in the season to produce more.

Project co-ordinator Kate Hagmeier says it's important to note population control measures target geese not native to the region.

"These are hybrid offspring of several different subspecies of Canada Geese that were introduced in the 1960s and 1970s," she said in a news release.

"Canada Geese from elsewhere in Canada and the U.S. were moved here as part of managed introduction programs."

Along with controlling the population, believed to number about 2,500, the program also reduces the risk of recreational water contamination caused by geese.