Geese have 'ruff' time at Geneva park

Hiring border collie dogs to discourage Canada geese from hanging around Island Park in Geneva is being deemed a success, with the waterfowl crowd noticeably less.

Next up in the fight against geese and their droppings: discouraging people from feeding them.

Earlier this spring, the district closed off a hard-hit area on the north end of the park with snow fencing to keep people from feeding geese there.

"It's a calculated trip down there. Somebody has little kids visiting in town and they want to take them down there and feed the geese," said Larry Gabriel, parks and facilities superintendent.

The district will apply a substance called "Flight Control" to the lawn and flowerbeds. It makes the vegetation distasteful to geese. The district also stopped planting yummy marigolds in the flowerbeds.

Geneva parks officials say part of the problem is a restaurant near the park leaves buckets of bread scraps outside for people to feed to the geese.

Executive Director Steve Persinger said he intends to ask the restaurateur to stop.

Nationally, groups devoted to keeping geese around dispute whether the droppings pose any bacterial danger. Some also say that prohibiting feeding does little to keep geese off lawns, as geese think a lawn is a scrumptious snack in and of itself.

GeesePeace, an organization that promotes taking humane approaches to human-geese conflict, encourages the use of educational signs, border collie patrols, egg addling and landscape changes to keep unwanted geese away. Geese like an unobstructed view, the better to see if a predator is around, especially during molting season when they can't fly. That way they can run to the safety of the water if need be. They are less likely to hang around in areas with tall grasses or other vegetation.

Wildlife experts say that there is no reason to feed wild geese, even when the ground is covered with snow. The migratory fowl should be flying to warmer climates then. And bread and popcorn don't supply proper nutrition.

The district hired Wild Goose Chase in the spring to come out with the dogs, which are bred for herding. After a couple of weeks of the dogs' presence, the geese stopped visiting.