Canadian Senator Nancy Ruth, piqued at an infestation of Canada geese and the inevitable droppings, advised a Senate Finance Committee hearing: “We should shoot some of these geese or feed them to the poor, that would be my preference.” Does this add up to an effective strategy to end deep and persistent hunger? Hinterland Who’s Who, the venerable source of wildlife information, estimates there are eight million Canada geese in North America. A cull of Canada geese in Pennsylvania in 2007 produced .9kg of meat per bird to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, so the entire North American flock would yield 7.2 million kilograms of meat, or about 48 million meals (based on the Canada Food Guide recommendation of 150g of lean meat per day). About 4.6 million Canadian and U.S. households rely on food charity programs, so culling the entire North American population of Canada geese would yield about 48 million meals, or enough for about 10.5 days. And there are other considerations: Cooks recommend scalding the birds with a little detergent to loosen the feathers, so hungry people would need lots of soap to clean the dead birds. The bottom line: The frustrated Senator Ruth’s plan to feed the hungry with goose just doesn’t cook it. Another Canadian Senator, Art Eggleton, has produced an issues and options paper that sets out more realistic options to ensure that poor and hunger people have the income they need to afford a healthy and nutritious diet.