Blue Jays pitcher poses with pile of dead Canada geese he shot with his kid
The Toronto Blue Jays season came to a sudden end in October, and relief pitcher Erik Swanson marked the death of the birds’ season by killing even more birds ā at least 17 of them.
Swanson shared a post on Instagram this past weekend, posing with one of his two children in front of the corpses of at least 17 Canada geese hunted by the pitcher in Roseau, Minnesota.
The 30-year-old shared the photo accompanied by the caption, “Starting the off-season outdoors!”
As bad as the abrupt and disastrous postseason was for the Jays, we’d say these Canadian birds met a more violent end in Minnesota than the boys in blue did at the hand of the Twins earlier this month.
Before anyone starts sharpening their pitchforks, hunting Canada geese is perfectly legal during the approved hunting season in Minnesota, from September 23 through December 22.
While goose hunting isn’t against the law this time of year (with a permit, of course), a handful of commenters have replied to Swanson’s post calling out the North Dakota-born reliever for shooting a bunch of birds.
“What a sad sight,” says one commenter, while another remarked, “What did they ever do to you!?!?!”
Another chimed in, “Canada Geese? It’s tragic as I live on one of the flight paths and love hearing them fly over in spring and autumn,” adding, “I must ask is this all to eat or just for sport.”
Just as many commenters replied with messages of support for Swanson.
“Thank you for doing your part to control the Cobra Chickens!!!!” reads one reply.
Others note that, while locals in Toronto may know these animals best for their aggression and prolific pooping abilities, they actually make pretty good eating.
“Looks like a very nice hunt! Time to breast them and throw them in the frying pan.”
Animal welfare concerns will always be raised when it comes to shooting animals en masse; however, Canada geese populations have increased dramatically in recent decades, and hunting is considered an accepted means of population control.
The Government of Canada notes that “most regional surveys show that Canada goose numbers are either increasing or stable, but overall they are at unprecedented numbers.”
The government estimates that there are seven million of these birds present in North America, an alarming rebound from the near-extirpation of the species in parts of Canada just a half-century earlier.
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