Good News for Goose Lovers

Animal rights advocates have prevailed in Scarsdale. At Mayor Flisser's final Village Board meeting on Wednesday March 27 she fulfilled her promise to listen and respond to residents' views. Rather than kill the geese that have become a menace at Library Pond in Scarsdale, she changed course on the original plan to retain the USDA to euthanize the geese and instead directed Village staff to investigate other solutions. The Village Board of Trustees had previously passed a resolution to retain the USDA to exterminate the geese and reprocess their meat for human consumption.

However animal rights advocates flocked to Village Hall to object – some from Scarsdale and others from upstate, Rockland and Orange Counties and Long Island. Calling the USDA "contract killers, like thugs or the mafia," they urged the Village to consider other methods of moving the geese out of town. A wide variety of vendors -- with novel solutions to the problem -- appeared at Village Board meetings to vie for a contract with the Village to chase away the unwanted visitors. One proposed using a facsimile of a wolf called a "fearwolf" to frighten the geese away and another suggested that the village use his mechanical eagle and whistle to scare the geese out of the area.

In response to the public outcry, the Village cancelled the contract with the USDA and has now passed a resolution to hire Geesebusters from Northport L.I. to use their humane method of scaring the birds away. According to the company's website, they have "a natural, low cost" solution that uses an "animal scaring device" configured to look like a predatory three-dimensional eagle. The device turns in a "prey seeking" circular motion that is recognized by Canadian geese, seagulls and other problem birds as a real predator and causes them to flee the area. The company promises that "After a little conditioning, all nuisance birds will avoid the area, seeking safer grounds."

So if you see a large prey-seeking mechanical eagle at the pond – don't be frightened. It's not meant to scare you ... just the geese.