Save The Finnish LesserWhite-fronted Goose

100 years ago, the Lesser White-frontedGoose was a common breeding bird inLapland. Thousands migrated throughFinland. Decimation took place in the 20thcentury. In Finland no breeding is knownsince 1995. Unsustainable hunting stillgoes on along the migration routes in theterritory of the former Soviet Union and inSouth East Europe.

Globally, these geese are severelythreatened. On average, their populationis almost halved in ten years. No morethan three broods left Norway in autumn2008 or 2009. Sweden is the only countrywhere their numbers increase in nature:due to a clever restocking program, theynow count more than 140 already.

This is our goal in Finland also.

In Sweden they are saved!In the 1980s - just in time before theLesser White-fronted Geese were aboutto die out - a fine biotechnical method forsaving them was invented in Sweden.

Lambart von Essen and his colleagues inthe Swedish Hunters’ Association hadthe idea to use Barnacle Geese as fosterparents for Lesser White-fronted gos-lings. The foster parents would migrateto Western Europe avoiding the dangersin the south-east. Their adoptees wouldlearn the safe migration route.

Eggs of captive Lesser White-frontedGeese were put into Barnacle Goosenests in Central Sweden. After hatching,the families were taken to captivity. Justbefore learning to fly, they were releasedin Swedish Lapland. The goslings wereimprinted on this habitat. The fosterparents were able to guide them to theirwintering areas in the Netherlands. Nextspring, the Barnacle Geese returned totheir original nests whilst the yearlingLesser White-fronted Geese flew toLapland, forming a population todaycounting 140 birds. No Barnacle Geeseor hybrids breed in Swedish Lapland.

Simultaneously, in Finland Lesser White-fronted Geese were released withoutfoster parents. That project failed.

Our goslings will be guided!

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Guided goslings survive

LWfG Bulletin 2/ 2010

The GoalOur long term goal is tore-establish the favorableconservation status of thespecies in Finland. Inpractice this means theregeneration of a viablepopulation migrating tothe south-west within theEU area. According toSwedish experience, thisrequires that at least three

The Friends of the LesserWhite-fronted Goose followthe Swedish exampleThe association “The Friends of the LesserWhite-fronted Goose” is a nature conservationorganization. Our aim is the conservation ofthe Lesser White-fronted Goose in coope-ration with other actors in this field. The asso-ciation maintains a captive population of 60-120 geese in Hämeenkoski,Southern Finland.

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The releasing of Lesser White-fronted Goosegoslings with their Barnacle Goose foster

parents was started in 2004.Some goslings released by us were observedin the Netherlands. In summer 2009, a flock offive Lesser White-fronted Geese were seennear our Finnish releasing area. These mayhave been “our birds” and/or their offspring.

Join the Friends!The reintroduction of the Lesser White-fronted Goosecan become a success story. While waiting for othersto gain this insight, you can help the geese alreadytoday. The best way is to become a member of theFriends of the Lesser White-fronted Goose.We offer few benefits - only the Bulletin. But you willfind good company and have an opportunity to dosomething real for nature conservation by working onthe breeding station. And more than that, you will havesome influence on the survival chances of thiswonderful bird, the Lesser White-fronted Goose.

Contact:Chairman: Dr. Antti Haapanen antti.haapanen@kolumbus.fiSecretary: Dr. Lauri Kahanpää lauri.kahanpaa@jyu.fiMail: Lauri Kahanpää PB 35 FIN 00140 University of Jyväskylä, Finlandhttp://www.ansererythropus.tk/Bank Nordea Bank Finland Plc•SWIFT: NDEAFIHH•IBAN: FI6210323000513444Membersihip fee (2010) 40 €

The avoided claimed pitfalls•It was claimed that captive Lesser White-fronted Geese are hybrids with the GreaterWhite-fronted Goose. The suspect geneshave turned out to be of common origin forboth species.•There exists no “Scandinavian subspecies”.Like the former originals, the released geesebelong to a common north-western Pale-arctic population.•The Barnacle Goose is not an alien species.Also, using them as foster parents will notspeed up their natural expansion to Lapland.The Swedish experience verifies this.•The south-west migration route is notartificial but traditional. Due to earlier hunting,only few Russian geese still use it.

broods per year are released, and the completeproject may take up to 20 years.

ActionOur activities entirely depend on the voluntarydaily work of the goose breeder Pentti Alho and onthe contribution of members maintaining the veryspecial farm constructions. So far, we havemanaged to keep the farm in good condition andthe geese healthy enough to produce annually atleast one brood to be released. In the future, thereis need for new members, partners and sponsors.

This map shows the migrationroutes of the tiny remnantpopulation breeding in Norway(brown and red) and those ofthe Swedish geese (green).The routes with most red arethose with the highest huntingpressure. The Swedish geesestay in the EU and on the saferoute.That makes the difference.