Danbury

Ballwin Wild Goose Chase

It's a wild goose chase

It's a wild goose chase
Mary Shapiro
Of the Suburban Journals
Press Journal
08/17/2005

Quill, a specially-trained border collie belonging to Dorene Olson of Creve Coeur, flushes Canada geese from the lake Friday morning at Ballwin’s Danbury subdivision. The GeesePeace organization is working with Ballwin to discourage geese from staying around lakes, parks, golf course and subdivisions.
(Rick Graefe photo/Suburban Journals)



Aug. 12 was the official start of the Ballwin Wild Goose Chase.

As specially-trained border collies patrolled shorelines and — thanks to kayak and canoe rides — waters of lakes and ponds and stalked the birds into taking flight, dozens of Canada geese seemed to get the message that those sites are off limits, during a Bird Blitz that started last weekend.

From early morning to dusk Friday, Saturday and Sunday, volunteers with the GeesePeace organization and border collies and handlers with WyndSong Border Collies and Canada Geese Management policed lakes at Vlasis and New Ballwin parks; the Ballwin Golf Course; the Pointe at Ballwin Commons recreation cemter; and subdivisions such as Danbury, Seven Trails and Westglen.

Confused geese, used to having the run of those properties, spent the days flying from place to place in Ballwin, trying to escape the dogs — with no luck.

The Ballwin Board of Aldermen voted this summer to delay until next summer a proposed goose roundup and, instead, have the city parks staff work with the non-profit GeesePeace organization and the Missouri Department of Conservation to develop a long-term plan for nuisance goose management. Use of the dogs is one part of that plan.

"Our goose problems are primarily at lakes and ponds in the city where, for instance, geese are defecating on grass, sidewalks, playgrounds and picnic shelters, are sometimes being aggressive when nesting, and are eating lots of grass, which can lead to erosion along the banks of lakes," said John Hoffman, city superintendent of parks.

"Just seeing the dogs being around here seems to be affecting the geese."

Virginians David Feld and Holly Hazard, with GeesePeace's national office, said last weekend was an intensive program start.

"The geese in Ballwin obviously feel they have a safe haven in some locations, and we need to let them know, through the use of the dogs, that they're not safe there," Feld said. "They learn where they shouldn't be."

A little before 9 a.m. Friday, the effort started at Vlasis Park lakes, just north of Manchester Road near Seven Trails Drive. About 30 geese had been on the water, before the dogs came: 7-year-old Anna, wearing a special yellow life jacket, and 2-year-old Quill, in a red jacket. They belong to Dorene Olson, with WyndSong in Creve Coeur. Olson is providing demonstration services to the city for the coming month at no charge.

While Quill works the geese from the shore, Anna and volunteer David Frey take to the water, going after birds that have run into the lake, and the geese take flight.

"The strategy is to find them on land, expose them to a "predator" — the dogs — let them go to what they think is safety on the water, and then put a dog in a kayak or canoe on the water, so they realize there is no safe place at this location," Feld said.

GeesePeace "spotters" at other lakes relay by cell phone and walkie-talkie the locations of other flocks. Volunteers then travel with the dogs, kayak and canoe, to the new site: this time the lake in Danbury subdivision on Stoddards Mill Drive.

Again, Quill and Anna, at the urging of Olson — who makes a trilling sound that encourages the animals — go toward the geese, who fly away, squawking and honking angrily.

"I also use dogs to work geese at the UMSL campus and, after a time, the guys just have to do the trilling sound, and the geese leave," Olson said, as the group packed into cars to move back to Vlasis Park, where another group of geese had set down.

Hazard grins as they go.

"You think geese are just birds, but they learn quickly that there is an ‘exclusion zone' they have to stay out of," Hazard said. "But you need a comprehensive program, or else the geese will just keep hopping from pond to pond around here."

Back at Vlasis Park, the geese briefly land, reconnoiter, see the dogs running around the lake and decide, protesting harshly, to fly off elsewhere. More birds circle overhead, also notice the border collies and break off into groups to keep moving.

"Those dogs have a magic eye," Hazard said. "They stare and have a look that's extremely intimidating to geese."

The next stop for the dogs — which have had about two years of training — and volunteers is the Pointe, where about two dozen geese have landed.

They arrive, the dogs race around the lake and geese fly helter-skelter in every direction, honking a distress call.

"After the weekend, we'll drop back to one kayak, one or two border collies and one or two people doing this for the next month," Feld said as the group departed for another exercise at the Danbury lake.

Nancy Schnell of Hazelwood is co-coordinator of the local GeesePeace chapter, along with Jackie Seigel. She's also a middle school science and biology teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

"We also plan to have classes at the Pointe, likely in March and April, teaching residents and those in surrounding communities how to volunteer to humanely prevent goose eggs from hatching, through addling or corn oiling or replacement of fertile eggs with wooden dummy eggs," Schnell said.

GeesePeace has a federal permit from the Missouri Department of Conservation to do so.

The Board of Aldermen Aug. 8 approved an ordinance to prohibit residents from feeding geese and other wildlife on city property.

Alderman Ray Lembke said the action would "make sure that people understand that part of the problem with deer, geese and ducks in this community is their dependence on human feeding."

Links

STL PD story link