Geese found dead in tower bathroom
“We’re at a dead-end to this investigation,” said Lt. Steve Milne of the Utah State University Police Department.
The dead-geese prank, which occurred last month in Mountain View Tower, has left Milne and other members of the USU Police Department puzzled.
Just after midnight on Jan. 18, a USU resident assistant notified the campus police of three dead geese in the men’s east bathroom on the second floor, Milne said.
A USU police officer and two other officers from the Logan City Police Department arrived at the scene and found each of the dead birds placed on different toilet seats.
There was also a note in the bathroom warning residents to “Beware of Geese!” Milne said he had no estimate of the amount of time the dead birds had been in the bathroom.
Tyson Teichert, who lives on the second floor of Mountain View, said he saw the dead birds that night around 9 p.m. as he was getting tissue from the bathroom.
“The geese were just sitting there on the toilets with blood dripping on the floor. Their necks looked deformed and bent as if they were played around with,” Teichert said.
The freshman majoring in engineering said he thinks he saw the birds before they were placed in the bathrooms.
“After the day of the big snow storm, when school was shut down, I was helping someone dig their car out in the parking lot. I saw something that looked like three dead geese in a trash bag. They were frozen,” Teichert said.
Dominic Carlson, who also lives on the second floor, said he also saw the dead birds in the bathroom. Carlson, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering, said he doesn’t understand how someone could get them in the bathroom unseen.
“I figured it was a prank,” Carlson said, “but it was sad and disgusting.”
Milne said he thinks the incident was meant to be a prank, however if the culprits are found they could face charges of “criminal mischief” and “hunting-out-of-season.” Both are Class B misdemeanors, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, he said.
Carlson said it is the only prank he has seen on the floor this year so far. He doesn’t know who the pranksters could be.
“It could be someone on the other floors who have a rivalry with us,” Carlson said.
He said he won’t use the toilets the geese were found on.
“I use the ones in the back,” Carlson said while pointing to the west end of the building.
Milne said the police have no suspects at this time and the case appears to be an “isolated incident.”
Milne said the geese were shot by a shotgun. In addition to the criminal aspect of the incident, Milne said diseases the dead birds may have carried were a concern.
Teichert said he did not inform anyone right after his discovery of the dead geese.
“I figured someone would find it like the janitor. I didn’t want to touch them and get some disease,” Teichert said.
Teichert said that even though he considers himself a “country boy” he does think finding the geese on the toilets was still weird.
Milne said the geese were placed in bags after the incident and brought back to the Division of Wildlife Resources. There, the geese were identified as Canadian Geese by the officials.
Carlson said he thinks the “Beware of Geese!” sign was put in the bathroom by other residents living on the floor who, like him, discovered the geese after the unknown pranksters placed them on the toilets.
Milne said informants can contact USU police at 797-1939.
-doantn@cc.usu.edu