Niagara Falls Review e-edition

The poop on Canada geese? They’re smart

JASON NARK The Philadelphia Inquirer

ABSECON, N.J. — A Canada goose’s brain is smaller than its pile of droppings, but the ubiquitous bird is no dummy.

There’s a thriving market of tools and services catered to scaring them away, including lasers and an armada of highly trained border collies that love chasing them. There are even decoys made in the likenesses of alligators, coyotes and swans, a larger, distant cousin that can bully a goose. Canada geese, protected by federal migratory bird laws, catch on quick, though, and will go on pecking at grass while simultaneously pooping on it once they realize the decoys won’t hurt them.

“Canada geese are smarter than people give them credit for, and they’re great parents,” said Lynsey White, director of humane wildlife conflict resolution for the Humane Society of the United States. “They’re harmless for the most part. It’s the droppings that bother people.”

Once hunted to near-extinction, the Canada goose rebounded, and hundreds of thousands make a permanent home in the Delaware Valley instead of migrating north. Millions also live in every other state in the country, besides Hawaii. In many ways, the suburbs of Philadelphia are a perfect home for the geese, with ample flat, mowed lawns, golf courses, corporate parks, and athletic fields, where they can eat fresh grass and defecate.

It’s the goose poop that draws the biggest complaint, as it blankets soccer fields, stains sidewalks, and, unfortunately, attracts dogs. Geese poop a lot, up to 12 times per day, according to some sources, and collectively, it adds up to anywhere from one to two pounds per day. There’s a service for that, too.

“They don’t play around,” said Shyla Omorogieva, co-owner of the Delaware-based Goose Poop Removal Services, which employs a vacuum system to remove the feces.

A Rutgers University report about them said the birds can help the ecosystem by dispersing seeds, through their feces, and by acting as prey for coyotes, foxes, and other predators. Large groups can displace other waterfowl, however, and the feces contains “several bacteria and parasites that may be pathogenic to humans.”

White, of the Humane Society, said the agency supports various methods of dealing with nuisance geese that are ethical and not harmful to the birds. One method of population control is called “egg addling,” and can include oiling, piercing, or taking eggs from the nest. Oiling involves rubbing corn oil on the eggs.

CANADA & WORLD

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2021-06-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://niagarafallsreview.pressreader.com/article/281719797530750

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