What started as a perfect family day at one of London’s most popular parks quickly turned into a frustrating experience for local parents when fellow park-goers decided to turn the splash pad area into an impromptu feeding ground for geese.
The incident unfolded at Gibbons Park during what should have been an ideal day for families to enjoy the warm weather and let their toddlers splash around. Instead, parents found themselves dealing with an unexpected invasion of 30 to 40 geese, all thanks to two adults who thought it would be a brilliant idea to scatter bread crumbs in and around the splash pad.
The situation created exactly the kind of chaos you’d expect when mixing excited waterfowl with barefoot children. Goose droppings quickly covered the splash pad area, forcing parents to navigate their little ones through what became an unsanitary obstacle course. The aggressive birds, emboldened by the promise of free snacks, scared away multiple children who just wanted to enjoy the water features.
Local families weren’t having it. The bread-feeding duo, reportedly sporting Ed Hardy attire, seemed completely oblivious to the mayhem they’d created. Their well-intentioned but misguided gesture transformed a peaceful family outing into a scene that had parents questioning basic park etiquette.
The incident highlights a broader issue that’s been plaguing London parks for years. Feeding waterfowl, particularly bread, isn’t just annoying for other park users – it’s actually harmful to the birds themselves. Bread offers zero nutritional value to geese and can cause serious digestive problems, essentially acting like glue in their stomachs and creating dangerous blockages.
If you absolutely must feed the feathered residents of London’s parks, wildlife experts recommend sticking to healthier options like peas or corn. But honestly, the geese have been doing just fine without human intervention for millions of years, managing to find perfectly adequate food sources on their own.
Gibbons Park already battles a constant goose presence, with their droppings creating ongoing maintenance challenges even without people actively encouraging them to stick around. The birds are notoriously brazen, often blocking pathways and showing zero respect for personal space – behaviour that only gets worse when they associate humans with easy meals.
The geese situation at Gibbons Park has become such a persistent issue that some parents have started investing in splash shoes for their children, acknowledging that the ground around these areas is frequently contaminated regardless of feeding incidents.
What makes this particular incident even more frustrating is the location choice. Even if you’re determined to feed wildlife despite all the reasons you shouldn’t, doing it directly beside a children’s play area shows a spectacular lack of awareness. The splash pad is specifically designed for barefoot toddlers – not as a dining hall for aggressive waterfowl.
This isn’t an isolated incident either. Similar scenes play out regularly across London’s park system, from Victoria Park to various storm water ponds, where well-meaning but misinformed residents continue dumping everything from dog food to leftover pasta for the local bird population.
The greater Canada goose population in southern Ontario has quite the comeback story. About 60 years ago, excessive hunting and habitat loss had dramatically reduced their numbers, leading to successful reintroduction efforts. Today’s geese are the descendants of those conservation successes, though they’ve evolved from majestic, elusive creatures into what some locals describe as “domesticated garden gnomes with bad attitudes.”
Park signage does exist warning against feeding wildlife, though apparently not prominently enough to prevent incidents like this one. The single sign in Gibbons Park’s parking lot clearly isn’t doing the job when it comes to educating visitors about proper park etiquette.
For families planning visits to Gibbons Park, the reality is that geese will likely be part of the experience whether people feed them or not. The birds have claimed the area as prime real estate, and they’re not particularly interested in sharing nicely. The key is not making the situation worse by actively encouraging them to view the splash pad as their personal buffet.
The incident was discussed among local parents online, with many sharing similar frustrations about encounters with overly bold geese throughout the city’s park system. The conversation on Reddit highlighted just how common these feeding incidents have become, with multiple residents reporting similar scenes across different London locations.