Members of a private tennis club in Surrey are furious after a number of beloved local geese were culled in secret because they kept pooing on the courts.

The St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club in Weybridge is famed for its exclusivity, star-studded clientele and peaceful lakeside atmosphere. But discontent has erupted after management hired marksmen to kill the club’s resident Canada geese, as well as their goslings.

Neighbours told The Times they heard gunshots at around 5:25am on 16 July, and were later horrified to learn that eight geese had been killed. In a statement, the club said the culling had followed “many months” of attempts to control the geese through non-lethal means, and that the volume of faeces posed a health and safety concern.

One said members and locals were “furious” after the cull, and claimed they were initially told the geese had been rehomed and “flown off”.

“The Canada geese were adored and loved,” they said. “They walked around the club at their own pace and sometimes held up the traffic, but nobody minded.”

Another added: “The members have always liked the geese. It is sometimes a bit annoying because they amble on to the courts and leave their poo.

“But that does not mean they had to be shot. It’s a private estate and the residents are concerned about a firearm being brought in without any warning.”

A social media post also described an adult and a gosling that survived the cull as having been “found in a distressed state the same day wandering the local area”.

Adult Canada geese are known to be prolific defecators, dropping around 2lbs (0.9kg) per day.

The geese had also featured on the club’s social media. In one post on Instagram in April 2025, it wrote: “We have baby goslings on our Lakeside Terrace!”.

The club’s chief executive Miles Hill said the cull was “not a decision the Club wished to take, nor one that was taken lightly”.

“It followed many months of attempting to manage a growing resident population of Canada geese through enhanced cleaning and non-lethal measures. Only after those measures proved unsuccessful, and having carefully balanced our appreciation of local wildlife against our responsibility to protect the health and safety of members, visitors and staff, did the Club conclude that a licensed wildlife management operation had become necessary.”

He added: “Over a number of months, a resident population of Canada geese had become established around the Club’s lake and, in particular, the Lakeside Terrace, pavilion, surrounding pathways, grassed areas, roads and tennis courts. Despite extensive daily cleaning by multiple members of our grounds team, we were increasingly unable to keep pace with the volume of faeces being produced.

“The greatest concern was around heavily used member areas, including the external dining terrace and the area immediately adjacent to the children’s play park, where families and young children were regularly coming into contact with goose droppings.

“In addition to presenting a significant slip hazard, Canada goose droppings can contain bacteria including E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter. Allowing that level of fouling to continue in areas where members walk, dine and where children play was not something the Club believed it could responsibly ignore.”

Mr Hill said relocation efforts had been made but that shelters confirmed they did not take on healthy birds. He added the geese were “humanely dispatched using moderated (silenced) firearms operated by qualified professionals” and that Surrey Police had been notified in advance.