Not the most pleasant creature, but it's ours.

CANADA GEESE are a complete and utter nuisance.

They happen to bear this country’s name, and, as such, have come to be seen as a national symbol of sorts, along with Mounties, beavers and maple syrup. But our default national bird can also be quite a pain, particularly beyond our borders.

Recall Canada geese were responsible for bringing down Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s US Airways Flight 1549 in January 2009 (to be fair, though, they could also be credited with helping him become an American hero, at least for a few weeks, until another one came along.)

Sadly, last week 400 geese in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park were rounded up and gassed over concerns they were endangering airplane flights.

Canada geese also shit a ton and always seem to leave piles of poo in their wake. And so in Oregon recently, another 109 of them were gassed, because “the birds had become a pest in local parks, and many people were disgusted by the goose droppings,” the Canadian Press reports.

I don’t like to hear about any animals being gassed, even if it’s a cull carried out by civic authorities in an effort to mitigate a problem. But I understand that it sometimes has to be done, and I suppose that’s the most humane way to do it. It happens here in Canada, too.

What baffles me, though, is what happened in New Jersey earlier this week when police discovered 18 geese that had been beaten and shot in the head in a parking lot near a pond. I realize we’re talking about New Jersey, the a-hole of America, but still, who does that?

Not surprisingly, the matter has sparked outrage here in the Great White North — Goosegate, it’s being called.

The controversy is for good reason — can you imagine if a Canadian were to slaughter a bunch of bald eagles, the national bird and quintessential symbol of the United States? Methinks the long-predicted American invasion of this ”freedom-hating” nation would be imminent.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com

Related: Honk if you love the Canada Goose

THREE BONEHEADS

If you’ve never heard of it – and haven’t read Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises – the bull run is a super popular annual event that essentially involves a bunch of idiots hustling down narrow cobbled-stone streets attempting to outrun a pack of stampeding bulls.

Apparently it’s quite the thrill. Not sure I see the appeal, though.

It’s not uncommon for participants to be trampled or gored, and the Pamplona bull runs have killed 15 people since 1911 — most recently last year. Seems like a pretty good example of social Darwinism hard at work.

All risks to humans aside, I don’t think it’s fair to be subjecting the bulls to this spectacle. Surely they can’t be happy about being coaxed into taking part.

Small wonder so many people get gored, then. If I were a bull in Pamplona, I’d be looking to shove my horn up some stupid tourist’s ass too.

ryan@roadtostarrdom.com