WASHINGTON — Meat from more than 100 geese captured in D.C. will help feed people around the area, the National Park Service announced Monday.
D.C. Central Kitchen — which prepares meals for homeless shelters, rehabilitation clinics and after-school programs — received about 100 pounds of breast meat from 116 Canada geese thanks to the efforts from the National Park Service and the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.
The geese were captured at Anacostia Park and euthanized earlier this month as part of a population-management effort. The meat was tested and deemed safe for consumption, the National Park Service said.
This is the second year that the geese were hunted, and that their meat was donated to D.C. Central Kitchen. Last year, the breast meat from 365 geese was donated.
“Receiving the donated breast meat last year allowed our organization to provide healthy meals to over 400 people around the city, and this year we plan to do the same,” said D.C. Central Kitchen Director of Procurement and Sustainability Amy Bachman.
The goose-management program is part of a larger effort to help restore Anacostia Park’s tidal wetlands, “some of the last remaining tidal wetlands in our nation’s capital,” the National Park Service said in a news release. The large goose population feed on the wetland plants, the park service said.
