Telegraph Police forces in rural corners of Xinjiang province have been sending geese officers out on patrol since earlier this year, according to a report on the Chinese language website of the state-run People’s Daily newspaper. “Among all poultry, geese [are known] for being extremely vigilant and having excellent hearing,” Zhang Quansheng, a police chief in Xinjiang’s Shawan county, told the newspaper. The People’s Daily said the “sharp, keen and brave” animals were proving an invaluable tool in Xinjiang’s war on crime and were now being “actively promoted” across the region. Law enforcement agents described the geese as a new “highlight of stability maintenance work” and said they had proved themselves “better than dogs” in tackling crime. “Geese are very brave. They spread their wings and will attack any strangers entering [someone’s] home,” said Mr Zhang, the local police chief. The birds were like “a radar that does not need power”, he added. “In some ways, they are more useful than dogs. A household normally keeps one dog [but] an intruder can throw a drugged bun to kill the dog. Geese are normally kept in groups and they have poor eyesight at night making it very difficult for intruders to [poison them].” Authorities in Shawan county say their goose-stepping recruits have at least brought a measure of security to the troubled region. In June, one gaggle of police geese reportedly managed to snare a man who had broken into the local police headquarters to take a motorbike, the People’s Daily reported. After drugging two police dogs and climbing over the wall, the man was about to make his getaway when he came face-to-face with some 20 feathered “gatekeepers.” “The geese fanned their wings and began shrieking when they saw the stranger. The duty officer woke up and the thief was caught red handed.”
I am not shocked by this news at all, geese are incredibly nasty, and if I was breaking into a restricted area I would be a lot more worried about 10 geese making noise and flapping their wings at me than one barking dog. I’ve been attacked by a goose before, true story, I got too close to one in a golf course and it came after me flapping its wings and snapping at me. It was flat out terrifying. In fact, if I’m walking down a street and their is a loose dog on one side and a loose goose on the other side, I cross to the side with the stray dog every time. I know dogs. Geese are a wildcard.
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