KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Agents with the Missouri Department of Conservation are investigating after several goose eggs were found destroyed outside the Independence Center.
A woman drove up Monday to a large concrete planter and destroyed seven with a hammer, according to a post on the mall’s Facebook page.
“To the woman who did this, know that we are searching for you,” the mall said in the post.
Destroying the eggs runs afoul of federal and state laws related to migratory birds, including Canada geese.
“You must obtain special permission from the department before taking any lethal control action,” according to the MDC website.
The planter outside a jewelry store connected to the mall is an annual nesting site. There are other nests around Independence Center's grounds, including a few where goslings have already hatched this year.
Independence Center's new general manager, Tameka Bryant, had been posting updates about the goose family on her personal Facebook page and the mall's, so she assumed the eggs were hatching when Jared employees called Monday.
"I was probably in shock because I was expecting the call to say, 'The babies are here,' right?" Bryant said. "Then, it immediately went to anger once she hung up."
A customer at the jewelry store saw a woman pull up to the curb and exit a red Toyota Rav4 before smashing the eggs. She pointed out the woman to a Jared employee.
"I hope they find her, I hope they prosecute her, and I hope the rest of the community, and everyone else, understands that this is a crime," Bryant said. "I just, I don't understand why someone would do that, [and] I don't know that I'll ever get an answer. But that one event affected a lot of people — the staff here, within our mall management staff. The whole community, all of our stores, everyone's talking about it, because that's our family. We go out there, people take their breaks — and they destroyed a family."
After it was reported to Bryant, she called Independence police, who referred the case to the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Agents were in the process of gathering surveillance video from Jared, the mall and the city in hopes of identifying the individual responsible.
Conservation Agent Nathan Jobe said the perpetrator could face Class A or B misdemeanor charges at the state level, including significant fines and possible jail time.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Operation Game Thief (1-800-392-1111) or the MDC (816-622-0900).
The story may yet have a happy twist.
Jen Plumberg, who is federally permitted to rehabilitate migratory birds through her work at Babe’s Ducks Waterfowl Rescue in Blue Springs, brought up a gosling, which she had been rehabbing from a foot injury.
The goose parents whose eggs were destroyed appeared to bond with the gosling, highlighting a remarkable attribute of Canada geese.
"We get babies every year, and you don't know where the parents are, but if you put the baby with a family that has babies the same age, they'll adopt it," Plumberg said. "... I came out here today, and these two parents flew down to their nest of destroyed eggs and clearly thought that it was their baby."
After continuing to observe the new family, she decided to take the gosling, which was walking with a pronounced limp, back to Babe's Ducks for more rehab.
"Upon observation, it was determined this gosling is not yet 100% capacity for release," Plumberg said in a text message. "He will be taken back to our rescue to continue to rehab and will be released with these adults once he is able to fully ambulate without impairment."
She also had advice for people who find geese annoying or scary.
"A lot of times people get scared because they walk by a goose and it stands up and hisses and opens its wings and comes at them," she said. "But if you see a goose doing that, it's probably just protecting its nest. All you really have to do is just walk away, create distance between yourself and the goose, and they'll leave you alone. They're very intelligent creatures. I know some people consider them a nuisance, but I would encourage everyone to research them a little and watch them a little, because they're very, very intelligent creatures."
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