The City of Moncton has a new plan of attack to deal with its ongoing problem of nuisance geese and the idea is a little flashy.
“We were counting their droppings in quite high numbers,” said Dan Hicks, Moncton’s director of parks and recreation.
Hicks says an unusually high number of geese have been gathering in parks in the city this summer.
They’ve created what he calls a “health hazard” as a result of their droppings. They’ve even become a nuisance for people visiting the parks.
In an effort to send the filthy fowl packing, Hicks said the city of Moncton plans to use LED solar-powered flashing lights to get its nuisance geese to fly the coop.
“They are LED low-powered solar strobe lights that are set at the eye level of geese and they flash from dusk to dawn every two to four seconds,” said Hicks.
He said the lights cause ‘geese insomnia’ causing the birds to leave the area and nest elsewhere.
Away with Geese is the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that manufactures the lights.
In an email, Tom Wells, the company’s president, said the lights are not bothersome to humans.
“Our light is not a strobe light. It is a solar-powered LED light. That makes a large difference for customers with medical conditions such as epilepsy,” Wells said.
Hicks says the city will install several lights in the parks next year to test them out.
He said they are also looking at other options, such as using snow fencing around waterways, to discourage the geese from nesting in the parks. He said the city has set aside $15,000 to tackle its nuisance geese problem.
“We need to react to the geese the way they react to us. It’s a bit of a tango,” he said.
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