Ontario man fined $1,000 for 'throwing large rocks and swatting' at Canada geese

Joseph Brugge of Essex, Ont., has been fined for harassing Canada geese, which are protected migratory birds.

Brugge pleaded guilty to capturing, harassing and attempting to injure Canada geese under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act, reports the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in a May 1 bulletin .

“ With help from the public,” states the MNR, a conservation officer determined Brugge was at the Belle River Marina on the shoreline of Lake St. Clair, where “he caught a Canada goose gosling and attempted to injure adult geese by throwing large rocks and swatting at them with his hands.”

Canada geese are federally protected migratory birds, says MNR, and the public is not permitted to catch them with their hands or attempt to injure them.

Provincial conservation officers contacted the Ontario Provincial Police for assistance with their investigation into Brugge’s harassment of the birds last May.

Brugge pleaded guilty before Justice of the Peace David M. Horton in the Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor on February 2, 2026.

He was ordered to pay Ducks Unlimited Canada $1,000 “to support migratory bird management, habitat enhancement or protection near the location where the offence was committed.”

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