Canada Goose Population Management

"Remote-controlled amphibious device": beware the rubber duckie.

Foster City announced the first steps in its Canada Goose Population Management program: [bold added]

The first phase of this plan will focus primarily on observation and surveillance, which will begin to take place in the first week of October. Though the visibility of this work to the public may be limited, community members could notice goose tracking cameras hung in trees at the previously identified parks, or uniformed Wildlife Innovation staff monitoring the bird population...

Following the observation and surveillance phases, Wildlife Innovation staff will transition to tracking the Canada Goose population in early November. This effort will include banding select birds with GPS tracking devices around their feet and neck. Application and operation of the GPS devices is in no way harmful to the birds. Community members who observe banded birds should not be concerned – federal and state permits have been issued for this work.

Wildlife Innovation staff will initiate bird deterrent activities shortly after the tracking efforts are introduced. All the deterrent methods included in the plan are nonviolent and nonlethal. These efforts will include use of a: trained dog and handler; remote-controlled amphibious device; aerial drone with speaker and lights; audio deterrent; handheld laser; and fogging.

We've been given a heads-up to these solutions for Foster City's goose problem, but your humble blogger thinks the clever birds will discover there's little reason to be fearful.

More drastic, potentially lethal steps will probably need to be tried; for example, given the many leashed dogs we see on our walks around town, perhaps the City could suspend its leash laws in Foster City parks temporarily and see if that puts a dent in the problem. Here's hoping we don't need to go that far.