Tuesday, December 27, 2011
North Little Rock North Little Rock won't shoot geese in Burns Park
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 3:26 PM
The Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park has announced that the city of North Little Rock has agreed to a non-lethal method of controlling the Canada geese problem in the city's Burns Park. The city hopes to shoo them with dogs rather than shoot them.
Scott White of the Coalition said the decision was reached at a meeting this morning with Mayor Pat Hays; Parks Director Bob Rhoades and Kate Finefield, the Burns Park ranger. White said they discussed options for reducing the flock of some 200 geese — whose waste and personalities have been a problem in the park. The idea of a controlled hunt was scrapped for alternatives. Which ones?
"They ultimately settled on all of them — a double-barreled approach, no pun intended," said White. The work will begin immediately. The city will contract with handlers of several dogs to clear out the population rapidly, then eventually buy a dog for permanent patrol in the park, a method Little Rock has used successfully at Rebsamen Park across the Arkansas River from Burns Park.
Noise and light distraction also will be used, with flashing lights and possibly remote-controlled boats to disturb geese in the water, White said. Habitat will be changed by the planting of shrubs and tall grass between the golf course and soccer fields and water. White said geese like an easy path between grazing places and water and this disruptionshould discourage their making homes in the park. Rangers also will search for nests, temporarily remove eggs and apply oil, a process known as addling, which prevents eggs from hatching.
White said he expected the deal would become official with announcement at a City Council meeting tonight. The mayor told White he expected no "pushback." White said city officials said it could cost $24,000 to implement and they asked the Coalition to pay half the cost. White has put out a call for donations and set up a bank account to accept contributions.
"If we strike while the iron is hot, I think we can do it," White said. The proposal to reduce the flock by killing them had produced an outcry from animal lovers. That, in turn, produced some strong words from hunters anxious to take a shot at the birds.
UPDATE: Mayor Hays said White had described the morning meeting accurately, but said, "I'm not quite the city of North Little Rock." He said the deal wouldn't be official unless the City council approved tonight. He said he'd been moved to try an alternative because he couldn't adequately respond to those they hadn't been given a chance to show alternatives to a hunt could work. He said it was unfortunate that the parks commission's decision to hold a hunt had gone unreported and became known only shortly before the City Council first decided to go ahead with it.
A week before the scheduled hunt, Mayor Hays postponed it to give the community time to come up with alternatives. He didn't promise then that the hunt was scrapped for good, but city officials apparently decided that enough good suggestions came from the extended comment period to give them a try.
The news release from the coalition follows:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park Applauds City of North Little Rock, AR
Humane Goose Population Control Methods
North Little Rock, AR. (Dec. 27, 2011) — Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park, formed on November 28, 2011 with more than 1300 supporters, commends the City of North Little Rock for its decision to adopt non-lethal methods of controlling the population of Canada geese in Burns Park. On November 27, 2011, city officials passed an ordinance allowing firearms in Burns Park for a controlled goose hunt as the sole method of population management. Grassroots opposition emerged immediately and organized on Facebook, Twitter, and online petition.
“The community’s opposition to the goose hunt made all the difference,” said Scott White, one of the founders of the Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park. “We are very happy with the city’s responsiveness to that opposition and their agreement to a non-lethal goose management plan. The Coalition, for its part, has agreed to a fundraising goal of $12,000 and a volunteer force to help the city in its efforts.” Donations can be made to the Burns Park Goose Fund at Centennial Bank on Broadway in North Little Rock.
The Coalition has provided guidance and support for the use of non-lethal control methods as the debate unfolded over the last six weeks. Those methods, which the city will begin immediately, include specially trained dogs to frighten the geese away from targeted areas, harassment techniques to discourage nesting, and coating eggs in corn oil to prevent hatching of new goslings. The Coalition has pledged support to help carry out these plans.
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
I can tell you from first hand knowledge that this will work from the start. THEN, they will get used to the dogs and we will be back at square one with a park filled with goose droppings and health hazards to humans
like
dislikeActually, the geese out here have been laying low ever since the hunt warning signs went up a couple of weeks ago. Them rascals can read, and I wouldn't doubt that at least a couple check the Arkansas Blog here every now and then.
Just noticed late this afternoon that there were no geese along the river trail or Victory Lake. They were there a few days ago.
It is always good to see government actually respond to the people and stand up to special interest groups.
It is a good thing there is not much profit in shooting ducks, though. The lobbyists for Duck Shooting Inc. would have been out in full force, and then we'd have both dead ducks and taxes to subsidize corporate welfare for the duck killing industry.
"Mayor Hays said White had described the morning meeting accurately, but said, "I'm not quite the city of North Little Rock."
Well, Mayor Hays, you seem to get everything you want with little or no oppositiion in the city council. Alternate title-admiral.
How many folks got paintball guns or R/C toy Jeeps from Santa or have unused ones in the closet or garage? Get those toys out and hie thee down unto Burns Park anon y'all this fortnight! Who ya gonna call? .....GOOSEBUSTERS !!!!
Any suggestion the geese will become use to a dog is made false according to an account of Fern's success at the LR golf course. Next.
Much easier to ask forgiviness after the fact than ask permission before the action....they will spend 50k or more to "manage the proble, when $25 worth of 22 shells and a month of early morning/late afternoon sniping would have solved the problem
I was very angry when I heard that the city of North Little Rock were planning to SHOOT the Canadian Geese! Cruel and heartless! WTF! The Geese have just as much right to live as any human or other creatures that God made!
"they will spend 50k or more to "manage the proble[m]"
$3000 for Fern the Border Collie and an occassional golf cart ride. Next.
Try $8000 for the border collie, transportation, and training for the handler (its not 2001 anymore)
$6000 for the lights to chase the geese out of water, which I'm sure will be stolen rather frequently
$10000 to hire a company to chase the geese for 2 months
And these are just the known figures. It doesn't include the cost of all the new planting along the waterways, veterinary expenses, housing the dog, training all the volunteers which I'm sure will stop showing up after the first week, and the overtime pay for the park workers.
Just ask Bella Vista and Hot Springs Village about their "volunteer force". I have it first hand that the only way they can get anyone to show up is to threaten to shoot the damn birds.
This is crazy, especially in a city that didn't even pass their last tax initiative.
Try $3000 for the border collie, unless LR golf course officials are lying, someone needs to shop around for a better deal than $8000 for a border collie.
No lights required at the LR golf course. $6000 for lights sounds like someone is getting taken for a ride.
Wow. The Canadian Geese fly south from MN. Poo? Yes. But personalities?? They are fine when they're with us. What is happening in the South to make them unhappy?
Dear Mayor Patrick Henry Hays,
I'm very disappointed in the decision that you made concerning the geese problem at Burns Park.Dogs simply Don't Work.This is why the Feds are killing geese and other birds all over the country ( they can't get rid of them). Your price tag is $24,000.My method is not even close to that number. I have the only bird deterrent that goes up in the air, most deterrents are on the ground and is not a threat to geese or other birds they can simply fly away with no harm.I also whistle train geese,no one can do that ,so if the problem goes elsewhere a simple blow of a whistle get rid of your geese and this puts a end to dropping immediately.I have the silver bullet of bird control and will challenge any method out there.This method should be used in every urban area.Killing is a waste of money and will not work as geese will repopulate. Geesebusters simply puts an artificial predator into a places where people don't geese and keeps them away.This method was sold to USDA and Humane Society in 2004 and will not return emails or phone call to Geesebusters. There has been millions of birds killed since then.Shame on ALL!!!
Robert Guadagna owner
Geesebusters
www.geesebusters.com
We can solve your nuisance geese problems.
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