MISHAWAKA, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana city is looking for new ways to ward off the Canada geese that gather in parks and golf courses.
The South Bend Tribune (https://bit.ly/2pheDkc ) reported that last year, Mishawaka Mayor Dave Wood urged parks staff to explore alternatives to having the geese killed, noting that a roundup could be used as a last resort if the public’s health and safety were in peril.
The geese leave behind prodigious amounts of droppings and are known to threaten people who wander too close to their nests.
Mishawaka parks Superintendent Phil Blasko said this week that all options are on the table, but that he’d like to avoid rounding them up.
The city has set aside $15,000 in its parks budget for animal control and has already spent roughly half of it on snow fences, speakers that play geese alert calls, signs to warn against feeding the geese, and wildflowers to block their path on riverbanks. A chemical that makes grass look less appealing to geese will also be applied.
Now is the time of year that goslings are beginning to hatch, and the parks department hopes the multiple tactics they have used will be effective. So far, the Eberhart-Petro Golf Course is seeing a lot fewer geese than last year.
“We’re trying to learn,” Blasko said, adding that there isn’t one magical solution.
In June, the city hired a contractor that gathered and killed 589 geese plaguing the city’s golf course and parks.
Mishawaka is not alone in fighting against the Canada geese. South Bend and St. Joseph County are also facing similar fowl issues.
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, https://www.southbendtribune.com
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