Vermont’s hunting season for Canada geese began last week , and a local golf club planned to take advantage by culling an unwelcome gaggle.

But the Quechee Club, which runs two golf courses, capitulated after animal rights groups and local residents pelted the club with social media messages and calls pleading for a more humane solution.

“It was so upsetting to hear,” said Maureen Bacon, a property owner who received an email from the club warning residents that they might hear gunfire. Ms. Bacon and her husband own property at the Quechee Club, an exclusive, 5,500-acre residential development with ski slopes, tennis courts and two golf courses in Hartford, Vt.

According to the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times, culling the population each year was necessary because the growing population of resident geese would “become a nuisance and a health hazard with their droppings on the courses.”