Look for Humane Solutions to the Goose Problem

Here is a letter to Scarsdale10583 from Kimberly Gold of Bell Road in Scarsdale concerning the geese at Library Pond: When I learned that the Scarsdale Board had approved a plan to kill the Canada geese at the Library Pond, I was horrified. As I began to tell my family, neighbors and friends, they too had the same reaction. Killing Canada geese does not solve anything. More geese simply move in to fill the void. Geese are attracted to bodies of water and short grass. The Library Pond, as it is currently landscaped, might as well have a neon "Vacancy" sign for geese. There are humane and effective strategies to address just about every complaint one can have about the geese.

A humane goose management plan must be comprehensive. The first, and easiest, component is to change the landscape so that it becomes undesirable to geese. Planting tall grasses around the border of the pond is one solution. These grasses are beautiful year-round and require very little upkeep. The geese do not like to nest in areas with tall grass because it limits their ability to see predators. Another solution is to use "goose birth control," called Ovo-control, that can be fed to the geese in bread. It is safe and effective. "Addling" eggs so that they do not hatch is another strategy. Using machines to remove feces and turn it into compost is an ecologically-sound strategy that many communities use with great success. This also solves the problem of goose feces on fields. I was shocked to learn that the community had not tried even one of these solutions before calling in the USDA to kill the geese.

It has been noted that Scarsdale tried a dog program in 2008. This program consisted of using dogs to harass the geese away from the pond. While this is a generally effective strategy that is widely used, it was not administered properly in Scarsdale. The dogs came only once per day, and it is necessary for them to come three times. With this knowledge in mind, a dog program is something that is worth trying again.

All of these solutions are tools. Like any tool, it must be used properly to do the job for which It is intended. We owe it to ourselves and our children to make sure we have properly used every tool at our disposal before resorting to violence. There are many communities with far fewer resources than ours who manage the geese successfully without killing them.