The mayor of Central Saanich says there are simply too many geese in his municipality and the number needs to be reduced — as off-putting as that idea may be.

Mayor Ryan Windsor is expected today to tell officials with the Capital Regional District the Canada geese are presenting a huge problem to farmers and others in his municipality.

The CRD tried to reduce the number of birds last year, but only managed to trap and kill about 45 geese, despite having a permit to cull 250.

Windsor says the birds now number somewhere in the neighbourhood of 9,000 and are having a terrible impact on food security in the region.