First, there were Onesie and Twosie. Then there were PeeBee, short for Pasha’s Baby, and a couple named Iris and Screamer.

These five elderly Embden geese have been residents for at least 15 years behind a chain-link fence along Keolu Drive in the Enchanted Lake neighborhood, according to Kailua resident Jan Cook, who helped name them. Since last fall, landowner Kamehameha Schools has wanted the geese, as well as a number of ducks, removed from the approximately 2-acre parcel on Keolu Street, near Akipohe Street.

On Tuesday, Cook brought concerned community members together, including Claude Colton of Colton Farms, and one by one they were able to usher the geese into cages and transport them to their new home at Kualoa Ranch.

Cook felt both sad and happy for the fowl. Generations of families have stopped by to feed them, she said.

“Really, the whole community is heartbroken,” she said. “People are going to be very sad and mad because it’s pointless. There was no problem here, from the beginning. There’s still no problem with them being here. It was an arbitrary decision that they (Kamehameha Schools) insist on them leaving.”

Kamehameha Schools spokeswoman Liz Ahana has previously said there have been complaints about safety issues at the parcel, and Kamehameha Schools was taking steps to address them by removing the non- native ducks, geese and chickens.

One of the geese, Onesie, and a Muscovy duck were actually adopted out a few weeks ago to Leilani Dugan of Central Oahu. Dugan will also take in Ping and Pong, a duck pair that was also captured Tuesday.

Another Muscovy duck went to live with Kailua resident Susan Wilkinson, who also owns Daffy, the surfing duck well known at AccesSurf Hawaii events.

In October a post on MyKailua, a Facebook group page, alleged that Kamehameha Schools had sent an exterminator to the site but was stopped by a concerned resident. The post created a social media backlash.

Kamehameha Schools reassured the public at the time that no ducks or geese would be harmed and that it would work with the community to find new homes for the waterfowl.

On Election Day, Cook organized a sign-waving rally to save the ducks and geese, and said she received 225 “votes” in favor of letting the fowl stay. She noted only one ballot that said one should not presume what a property owner should do with his or her own property.

Still, Kamehameha Schools did not change its mind.

In a Dec. 28 letter that Cook received, Kameha­meha Schools Asset Management Director Dana Sato was sympathetic, saying she understood the animals had become part of the neighborhood landscape.

“However, we have to fulfill our kuleana as a responsible landowner of this residential parcel,” Sato said. “Having received multiple complaints from other community members regarding the noise and smell, along with the potential health concerns arising from the animals’ waste, rehoming these animals to a more appropriate location, such as a farm, is necessary.”

Cook said over the years, she has never known the ducks and geese to be very noisy or smelly, and to her knowledge they have never acted aggressively toward anyone feeding them. They seemed to coexist peacefully with native birds around the lake.

There are a number of mallards, meanwhile, that come and go from the site as they wish, which she will not attempt to re-home.

Kamehameha Schools initially gave the concerned residents until Jan. 31 to re-home the fowl but extended it a few times. The new deadline to re-home the fowl is Friday.

Ahana said the parcel is one of several being considered as a staging area by the Enchanted Lake Residents Association for the dredging of the lake, also known as Kaelepulu Pond. She said Kamehameha Schools will consider requests to use the parcel for educational and cultural purposes.

Cook said her top priority was to find the fowl a safe new home, and she is grateful Kualoa Ranch was willing to take them, where they will join other rescued animals, including a llama, a donkey and a few goats.

“It’s going to be sad for us,” she said. “Kailua is definitely the poorer for losing these sweet creatures.”