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i 1 tm rwnii ii i in itl economist suntribune the environment thursday april 25 2002 some york region residents fed up with increasing numbers of canada geese in part lofa series on animal and human coexistence staff writer mike adler looks at the issue of canada geese p i he goose came hissing tongue out and neck craned unable to drive off the whitchurchstouffville town councillor who was there to grab her eggs usually when they see you coming theyll duck down said peter dobrich who represents households around preston lake every spring he raids canada goose nests on the tiny kettle lake at the corner of woodbine avenue and bloomirigton road in stouffville some of them will get up and leave right away but this canada goose would not budge until mr dobrich pushed it off with a canoe paddle and despite his warning nowypu stay there- it returned three times honking and buffeting mr dobrich with its wings while its male companion circled in the water nearby mr dobrich shook the four eggs until satisfied the embryonic geese j inside were dead then used a red a marker to draw a cross on each he said he would return to check for new eggs last spring he found 20 nests and shook 93 eggs yet there were 32 goslings bprri to preston lakes residehtgppse population of 35 a canada goose can produce 15 kilograms of droppings a day and will usually return to areas it knows residents closed the lake to swimming three times last year dad toe coli bacteria notably after several hundred geese rested there in august v naturally theyre not trained to use the washroom mr dobrich vsaid i like many in the region he has come to see control of canada geese as a battle against an adver- sary whose numbers are increas ing they re an extremely smart animal you can scare them a few times and after that they kind of look at you and ignore you on the king township campus of seneca college placing plastic dead geese on lawns deterred the birds for a week lit took them two days to become used to a scare pistol which weakly fires a shell creating a loud whistle geese are our nemesis here said kevin french who runs an outdoor centre on the campus you could literally bounce them scare pistol shells off the goose and they wouldnt budge trying to limit geese around its own kettle lake lake seneca and an adjacent wetland college staff have addled as many as 240 eggs in a single season it isnt the most pleasant job in the world when you realize what youre doing said mr french adding some canada geese now associate senecas canoes with eggraiding and get aggressive and nasty whenever people paddle by the college however has a new eager weapon in the goose war porter the border collie who scat ters the 150 resident geese around the lake and even pursues them in the water he herds them now mr french said last week theyre completely terrified of it its a predator to them scaring canada geese has turned into a career for whitchurchstouffville residents anne murphy and reid forrester who resigned his school caretaking job last fall so he along with ms murphy could patrol local golf courses in a paid fullr time cam paign of harassment last spring he found 20 nests and shook 93 eggs yet there were 32 goslings born to preston lakes resident goose population of 35 the husbandandwife team are bird experts with six courses as clients they regularly unleash a bald eagle a yellow labrador retriever and a german wirehaired pointer against the geese t well bring in the dogs or bring in the birds we try to mix it up said mr forrester who describes staff photomike barrett this female goose is protecting its nest and eggs from peter dobrich who controls the goose population around preston lake by raiding nests and shaking eggs c the operations as a battle for territory he said he has seen 10000 geese on one local course during a fall migration canada geese evolved as tundra nesters and look for simple land scapes with mown grass and a source of water golf courses or any park or cor porate campus with a- pond are preferred habitats mississauga has tried moving them seattle has gassed them by the thousands and in virginia frus trated state officials have lately argued geese are hot migratory birds one day eight years ago staff at the markham civic centre count ed 2000 geese on and around the lake beside their building which is surrounded by rolling- lawns on hwy 7 at warden avenue geese at the civic centre flat tened obstructive nets learned to ignore tapes of shrieking bird sounds arid were riot intimidated by floating plastic crocodiles the geese actually attacked theni and kirid of blew them up recalled civic centre coordinator brian millar this week this year staff are using miner al oil to paint the goose eggs so they do not hatch firing a scare gun dissuades the scouts from migratory flocks of geese and keeps their numbers manageable he said if we dont control them theyll overrun the building painting eggs is a tactic employed aggressively by the city oftoronto its difficult to find a gosling around the toronto waterfront right now said norm north a waterfowl specialist for the canadian wildlife service the fed eral agency that must give people permission to addle eggs or use a scare gun on geese southern ontario has at least 74000 canada geese that winter here hunters kill 110000 a year out of a population of 400000 said mr north who hunts geese himself and said his gooseburgers taste fantastic u solving the canada goose problem if you have a canada goose problem experts say you can reduce their numbers by changing your propertys landscape the geese aire not the problem an american humane society newslet ter argued they are a symptom of the environmental problerris associated with the design and maintenance of bur urban green space rrhemnjrepngeeearepoblem is that people mow up to tke edgeof the water said alfefn blayj for the toronto region conservation authority v v 3 above all geese like lawns where they can see more than 30 feet irrall directions to solve the problem here are some suggestions from the us humane society p v plant vegetation or place other physical obstacles such as rock barri ers along the shoreline of a lake or pond s dont scalp your lawn let grass grow to four inches or let areas grow naturally into meadows and educate people not to feed canada geese i in 1 ij 1 r i v markham ri rtv esscom hem whitby i501hopkins 9056665392 boabsmnbbbttttbobi