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As we mentioned last month, The Central Park Conservancy was fed up dealing with park vagrants given to scaring away visitors and dropping prodigious amounts of feces all over Olmstead & Vaux's urban jewel, so it hired a pack of dogs to chase the interlopers off. This is not as horrifying as it sounds, unless you are a huge fan of the Canada geese that have made Central Park their year-round home. The large honking birds are considered a pest by the conservancy because they scare away ducks and other birds, eat the park's well-tended grass, and excrete an average of a pound of feces a day.
The New York Times had some face time with the Geese Police, Inc. ("Call us to . . . Get the Flock Out!"), which consists of a man named David Marcks and his team of border collies. Again, it's important to emphasize: The dogs don't harm the geese, but their herding behavior harasses the birds to leave and settle somewhere else where they won't be bothered because "geese are lazy animals and don't like to move repeatedly." In particular, the geese become unnerved by border collie behavior that is referred to as "the stare". Truly, these dogs sound very cool.
The Geese Police are very proactive according to the Times account:
But when the dogs — in this case, two black-and-white collies named Dehl (pronounced DEAL) and Coal — were led by handlers to a cove where the mating birds had stopped to rest, the geese immediately flew off. They circled overhead, honking in protest. A few minutes later, the geese in the Meer were scared off by the sight of a collie in a kayak that had been paddled out to the middle of the lake.If you'd like to see a canine in a kayak (dog-paddling?), Marcks and his team will be around Central Park for the rest of the month and will likely return in the fall. We suggest the Central Park Conservancy begin selling merchandise that says "Geese Police: CPNY", because we would be the first in line to buy it.
And this method of geese control is considered humane by PETA; look at PETA's Helping Animals website for more information.
(Photo of "Deputy Dog: Angus" from Geese Police, Inc.)
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Hey. Another piece about the dogs and the ducks with a cute-sie poo pic.
i think the park could make a lot of money selling permits to shoot the geese
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT....WOOF..WOOF..WOOF..WOOF
i agree with #2. goose is super yummy, and the excess fat that cooks off is great for softening, waterproofing and polishing leather, especially boots and baseball mitts. the park should be closed off for a special one or two day goose hunt. how awesome would that be!
Except it being illegal to shoot/kill Canadian geese...why do you think they went to the dogs? That's legal! Also, I don't think that Canadian geese taste all that great, I seem to remember that there is a different kind of goose for eating. Too bad, they are nasty things.
I don't see the problem with this . On one hand you have a population of birds that has out grown areas they normally inhabit and have migrated too the city . Believe me I know how destructive these damn birds can be ! They shit all over the place and attack anybody that gets to close to them . There like the crows in Canada ( Sorry I can't remember their name) That destroy laundry that people of those towns hangout to air dry in the summer . They shit all over the place and make this aggravating noise as they call for mates . I wondered how the people of these towns deal with it . The local lawmakers ban killing the birds and the folks are reduced to trying to scare them off (Which doesn't Works) . The point here is when is nature's encursion on "Human area's" too much ? Yes I understand they were probably here before us and all but that was then and this is now !
I used to have a border collie growing up and they are very cool dogs. They need a LOT of exercise but are very affectionate and love to play fetch.
I like Canadian geese, but they do make a huge mess. I heard that in Alaska that had a giant flock living by a major airport and they used to thin the flock out by removing every egg from the nest except for one. They were toying with the idea of giving the removed eggs to a homeless shelter, but that sounds wrong on so many levels.
This strategy makes sense in this situation, but there is no doubt that Canada Geese and other species whose populations have gone wild due to our impact on the environment need to be brought under control. The phenomenon of resident Canada Geese is completely unnatural and made possible by our golf courses, parks and destruction of predators due to how we've changed the habitat. We broke the system and it is now our responsibility to keep it in balance.
So basically what #[8] is saying is ...... Get your shotguns out and let's go "Balance" out the geese population !! I'm all for it !