Geese Lay Waste To Scarsdale Pool

A flock of Canadian geese sullied the Scarsdale Pool on Tuesday September 10 when they descended on the pools and used them as their playground and toilet. As of 3 pm Tuesday, all four pools were closed.

In its last week of operation, the pools were scheduled to be open from 3 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday. However, when the staff arrived they found the pool deck smeared with goose poop, the pool water fouled and one lone goose swimming in the main pool. Due to the warm weather many had counted on a swim and were disappointed to find the pool closed by a "crap attack," as one overheated resident called the incident.

It appeared that a whole flock had landed at the pool complex and caused significant havoc in all four pools. Crews power washed the decks and sides of the pools and were able to open the lap lanes in the main pool at 4 pm. The diving, wading and intermediate pools remained closed.

Here's a comment from Jason Marra from the Scarsdale Recreation Department on the geese in Scarsdale: "After chasing the geese away from Library Pond and other Village properties for the spring and summer, new geese began showing up in late August at some of the Village athletic fields, specifically in the mornings at Crossway Fields, Winston Field and Boulder Brook. The Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department has been chasing the new geese away in the mornings at these locations. Since the pool complex is now open for extended season hours in the afternoon only, we do not have staff onsite until the mid afternoon.

Yesterday morning the geese were again chased from athletic fields and since there was no staff onsite at the pool complex they found a great location to have a party without being bothered. The geese left a huge mess that was cleaned up by the pool staff in the afternoon upon opening. The main pool was vacuumed and the pool deck and walkways were power washed. The cleanup time resulted in a one hour delayed opening of the main pool. The pools will be monitored the remainder of the pool season to prevent this from happening again. This was the first time this summer geese were at the pool complex."

Was this retribution by the geese for their eviction from the fields and library pond? If there are any goose whisperers out there, please let us know.

Additional days and hours have been added for the pool this weekend. The pool will be open Wednesday through Friday  from 3PM to 7 PM, Saturday September 14 from 9 am to 12 noon (lap swim only), Sunday September 15  from 11 am to 4 pm (main pool and baby pool). Since today will be a hot one, the recreation department will make sure that the geese are not swimming today.

Photo credit: Michelle Lichtenberg