There has been a lot of honking in the Dieppe Traffic Circle at Wheeler Boulevard lately, and it’s not just from the cars.
The Atlantic Wildlife Institute is asking motorists travelling in the traffic circle to be on the lookout for families of Canada geese trying to cross the roadway.
“Some of the goslings are out and about and we are getting a lot of increased calls with people concerned with hitting the geese,” said institute director Pam Novak.
She says the gaggles of geese have flocked to the marsh area in the middle of the traffic circle to raise their young, making for a dangerous situation for the geese and for drivers.
At least four geese have been struck and killed at the site so far this spring.
“We are not asking anyone to go out and assist the geese because you are putting yourself in danger,” Novak said.
Dieppe’s Monique Duclos says she stopped in the middle of the road on Thursday morning to avoid hitting an entire family crossing in front of her car.
“I had to stop to let them go, and there were other cars coming and I could see them in my rear-view mirror and I was like ‘please just stop, stop,'” Duclos said.
Novack says drivers should avoid stopping in the middle of the road to let the geese cross, but she is asking people to be on the look out for families of geese darting across the busy throughway.
She says the geese and goslings are trying to make their way to the Petitcodiac River.
“They want to lead their young birds over to that water system eventually, so you are going to start getting more, increased cases of them going back and forth to try and graze a little bit more,” Novak said.
Novak says they have approval from the province to put up signs warning of the hazard, which will be installed on the weekend.
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