Geese Leave “Disgusting” Mess On Beach

Jul 26, 2018 | 6:21 AM

Canada geese are ruining a day at the beach for some people.

The City of Vernon is hearing complaints about goose poop at Kin Beach, including from councillor Dalvir Nahal.

“It’s so disgusting. I can’t believe kids are walking through that,” said Nahal.

Public works manager James Rice says the city contracts a person to patrol the beaches daily, with cleaning of the waste one of that person’s duties.

“We’ve got about 150 geese residing in that bay right now, and they produce anywhere 3 to 4 pounds of waste on a given day, so it is a huge issue.”

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Rice says the contractor uses a variety of scare tactics to move the birds, but he says they do become de-sensitized to it.

Councillor Catherine Lord says the city should consider budgeting for mechanical cleaning next year.

City Chief administrative officer Will Pearce says it’s a difficult problem to solve.

“What tends to discourage geese is everything that discourages public use, like letting the grass grow, not cutting or watering, and fencing the beach.”

Pearce says its a no win situation for city staff.

“When James (Rice) does his best to manage a beach, make it attractive for public use, he’s also doing a great job to attract every goose in the valley,” deadpanned Pearce.

Rice says July is the worst month for the problem because the geese are not flying and the young ones are learning to fly.

“In the next few weeks they will be moving on, heading north and east and looking for greener pastures to feed on.”

by Corey Fischer