- Joined
- Oct 17, 2002
- Messages
- 4,766
They actually want us to run our boats in a city park to harass the canada geese with our model boats ! I included the e-mail I could believe what I was hearing but the official actually does work for the city. As you can see they are already using dogs to harass the geese. I did let her know the city of STL had the same issue at Forest park and they went at night collected up the geese while they were roosting and donated them to the homeless shelters for DINNER! Of course the tree huggers did find out about it and razed you know what.
Bill –
Thank you for taking the time to hear about my little goose project. This is the email and ‘best practices’ that my dog teams are using. Quack, quack, quack!
Script: (approach by a citizen saying ‘it bothers me that you’re chasing the geese’ and ‘your dog is supposed to be on a leash in the city’) Hi, my name is pull badge off chest and introduce yourself and SMILE (you must SMILE). “I understand your concern. I am actually working with Name blank at Animal Services and the administration of the City of Huntsville to work on harassing, but not injuring the Canada geese (just FYI, it isn’t Canadian geese, it’s Canada geese). Over the last 15 years this species has become a larger and larger nuisance. This park is being destroyed by these geese and the CITY's office receives weekly complaints about the geese feces. They can actually poop up to 2 pounds/day. When we have upwards of 300 at the park, that’s a lot of poo. Many cities have had to have the geese removed and sadly destroyed. We are hoping to go a humane and urban wildlife friendly route. If you’d like to email blank, look for her email address under the City website. She will gladly answer any questions. And remember please do not feed the geese and ducks and fish anything but the permitted food.
K
Bill –
Thank you for taking the time to hear about my little goose project. This is the email and ‘best practices’ that my dog teams are using. Quack, quack, quack!
- BLANK must email or speak to each and every dog/handler team prior to them working in the park. Email -
- The handler must be wearing an Animal Services volunteer badge which we provide. We can mail the badge or they may be picked-up at our shelter – BLANK.
- Safety is critical for our team and citizens. The park is surrounded by busy streets. Dogs do not have to work off-leash, but they are allowed to run free in the park if managed with voice/hand command. Dogs should be social and not injury people. We suspect that eventually a citizen may be angry or even aggressive about the goose harassment. We have a prepared script and unprofessionalism is forbidden regardless of the citizen’s behavior. A polite departure is always sufficient if the script and polite conversation isn’t effective. Please do not feel badly if you find that the citizen is not calming and just leave politely. I cannot stress how effective this is and will be appreciated by myself and the city.
- The geese should not be injured by the dogs. Ideally the dogs will be unable to touch the geese. If there is a problem with an injury, just let me know and I will handle it. This type of occurrence will not have you expelled from the program. We’ll just look at making adjustments.
- Any unusual event should be reported to .
Script: (approach by a citizen saying ‘it bothers me that you’re chasing the geese’ and ‘your dog is supposed to be on a leash in the city’) Hi, my name is pull badge off chest and introduce yourself and SMILE (you must SMILE). “I understand your concern. I am actually working with Name blank at Animal Services and the administration of the City of Huntsville to work on harassing, but not injuring the Canada geese (just FYI, it isn’t Canadian geese, it’s Canada geese). Over the last 15 years this species has become a larger and larger nuisance. This park is being destroyed by these geese and the CITY's office receives weekly complaints about the geese feces. They can actually poop up to 2 pounds/day. When we have upwards of 300 at the park, that’s a lot of poo. Many cities have had to have the geese removed and sadly destroyed. We are hoping to go a humane and urban wildlife friendly route. If you’d like to email blank, look for her email address under the City website. She will gladly answer any questions. And remember please do not feed the geese and ducks and fish anything but the permitted food.
K
