Geese eggs reported missing from nest

By Philip Dalton

Children will not be the only ones looking for eggs this Easter weekend.

Two geese had nearly 26 eggs taken from their nest near the Psychology and Math Building sometime this week.

Biomedical Engineering Technician Al Lundgren said he noticed “a while ago” that two domestic geese had a nest behind the building with about 30 eggs. Earlier this week, he noticed there were only four eggs left.

Lundgren said the four eggs remaining were near their hatching times.

He said he thought a person had stolen the eggs and not an animal because a door was moved out of the way in order to reach the nest. He said if it had been an animal, the door would have fallen on the nest and shell remains would have been found.

Lundgren also said he speculated somebody from the biology department might have been the cause of the disappearance in an attempt to control the campus geese population.

James Grosklags, associate chairman of the biology department, who had previously petitioned to have the geese removed from campus, denied he had anything to do with the disappearance of the eggs.

Biology Professor Pete Meserve also denied the department had made any effort to control the population by taking the eggs. He credited the disappearance to “some sort of predation,” and said there are many racoons around the building.

Kathy Westfall of Oaken Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which serves wildlife in DeKalb and Sycamore, said someone might have stolen and incubated the geese for their own use.

Westfall also said she observed the geese Thursday on campus and saw that they were extremely aggressive and appeared to be very distressed.