goose poop zamboni and dog consultants to the rescue!

[Guest guest]

I love the idea of a " goose poop zamboni. "

 

I also like the notion of " dog consultants -- specially

trained goose-herding dogs that come in when the problem's especially

bad. "

 

 

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/25/BAGF0R6DIP1.DTL

 

 

OAKLAND

A honking pile of poop

 

A ton of goose droppings each week has city looking at pens, egg

control, coyotes

 

Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

 

The issue is poop. A ton of it. Each week at Lake Merritt.

 

Downtown Oakland's bucolic nature reserve has such a serious

overpopulation of Canada geese -- which drop about a ton of poop a

week on the 122-acre park -- that the city is considering introducing

dogs to herd the geese into fenced enclosures, buying a goose poop

Zamboni and spraying the goose eggs with mineral oil to prevent them

from hatching.

 

In addition, park users and bird experts have suggested that the real

answer might be coyotes, the primary predator of Canada geese.

 

" No one's talking about shooting the geese -- we don't need more

gunshots in Oakland, " said Jennie Gerard, chief of staff to

Oakland City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan. " But people cannot lie

down on the lawn because there's so much poop. It's an aesthetic

issue. It's gross. "

 

Kernighan and Councilwoman Nancy Nadel are hosting a community meeting

Thursday to gauge the public's response to goose poop and goose poop

abatement measures. City staff, ornithologists and other experts will

talk about geese and poop, and the public will be able to submit

suggestions.

 

Lake Merritt isn't the only Bay Area spot overwhelmed by the honking,

10-pound fowl. Lake Elizabeth in Fremont, Bishop Ranch in San Ramon,

the College of Alameda and nearly anywhere else that provides grass

and water are home to ever-increasing flocks of Canada geese.

 

Not long ago, the geese were nearly extinct in the Bay Area. But over

the last few decades they've gradually replenished their numbers,

thanks to international protections, lack of predators and a certain

obliviousness to cars, people, pollution, noise, lights, dogs and

cats.

 

They're so well adapted to city living that their population

throughout the U.S. is expected to double by 2010, from 220,000 to

nearly half a million, according to Oakland's Canada Goose Management

Study.

 

" Without predators, this is what happens to any bird population

that's well-adapted to its habitat, " said Eli Saddler,

conservation director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society and a Lake

Merritt neighbor.

 

Last week, federal wildlife officials shot two coyotes in Golden Gate

Park after they reportedly attacked two pet dogs. Saddler stopped

short of saying coyotes should be introduced to Lake Merritt to feast

on the geese, but did say that predators already living there should

be encouraged.

 

The primary problem with the Canada geese is the tourist birds. About

250 Canada geese live at Lake Merritt year-round, but in the late

spring up to 1,400 migrating geese stop at the lake to molt on their

way to cooler climates.

 

When they're molting, or shedding their feathers, the birds can't fly,

so they need to stay somewhere with ample grass and algae, their

favorite foods, and still water they can waddle into. When their new

feathers grow in, around late July, they head south.

 

At Fremont's Lake Elizabeth, which had a goose population similar to

Lake Merritt's, city officials bought a herding dog to chase the birds

away from soccer fields and into the lake.

 

Luke Skywatcher had a successful seven-year stint in Fremont

before retiring. Because of budget cuts, the city couldn't afford

another dog, so it has hired dog consultants -- specially trained

goose-herding dogs that come in when the problem's especially bad.

 

The city also started rubbing mineral oil on the goose eggs. In the

past 10 years, only two goslings have hatched at Lake Elizabeth,

compared with about 15 a year at Lake Merritt.

 

" Our goal is zero hatch, " said Chuck Canada, Fremont's

deputy director of recreation services. " Canada geese are one

thing that make Lake Elizabeth a very special place, but our

maintenance staff simply could not keep up with the (poop)

production. "

 

Fremont's anti-goose tactics have worked. Since introducing the dogs

and mineral oil, the year-round goose population has stayed about the

same but the migrating population has dropped by nearly 50

percent.

 

Geese aren't stupid, however. In Fremont they've just moved to nearby

golf courses and office parks. But at least the soccer and baseball

fields, walking trails and lawns are relatively free of excrement.

 

In Oakland, dogs are one option the city is considering. The dogs

would herd the geese into fenced enclosures that the birds couldn't

escape until their feathers grow in.

 

Dog hazing is another possibility. Harassing Canada geese is legal as

long as the geese are not touched. The city might allow dogs to chase

and bark at the geese as a way to discourage them from returning to

Lake Merritt.

 

Another option is to buy a Nature Sweep, a 500-pound vacuum billed as

" the natural solution to a natural problem. " The

Zamboni-like tractor collects goose feces and collects them in a

hopper for later composting. Oakland will test-drive a Nature Sweep

next month, Gerard said.

 

The city's also considering replacing the short grass around the lake

with long grass, which the geese don't like as much. Ultimately, the

City Council will have to approve funding for any goose poop program

in Oakland.

 

But discouraging geese on a city-by-city basis might not be the best

way to address the problem, Saddler said. If every city starts coating

goose eggs with mineral oil, the species might head back toward

extinction, he said.

 

A better solution, Saddler said, would be to provide more suitable

habitat for the geese, such as restoring more wetlands away from urban

areas. He also suggested that cities start enforcing laws prohibiting

people from feeding wildlife, and taking more steps to encourage

predators.

 

" When we start tinkering with these things, we're dealing with

something that's already out of balance, " he said. " We need

to ask ourselves, are we really fixing the problem or are we just

shifting it somewhere else? "

 

Meeting to discuss Lake Merritt's geese

 

Oakland's community meeting on geese management " will be at 7

p.m. Thursday at the Lakeside Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave.,

Oakland. To read the Lake Merritt Goose Management Study, go to

www.oaklandpw.com/Page794.aspx.

 

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones.

 

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the

San Francisco Chronicle