Finns trying to enjoy beaches and parks during their all-too-brief summers have been vexed by legions of geese and their droppings – the smelly mess has resisted even the most innovative solutions
Strange that they mention, but then completely ignore the patrol dog solution. A lot of parks and even golf courses in the Northeast use dogs for that exact purpose, and it works quite well. I've...
Strange that they mention, but then completely ignore the patrol dog solution. A lot of parks and even golf courses in the Northeast use dogs for that exact purpose, and it works quite well. I've even seen some cheap places use cutouts of dogs, though I suspect that's less effective. At some point, culling is unavoidable, though -- I remember how bad Denver's parks got during the wintertime, just completely covered in Canadian goose poop. And the geese themselves can be very aggressive, hissing in large groups at anybody who comes near and pecking at children!
I wonder if American crow mitigation lasers could work, too.
It doesn't sound like it's a reasonable solution for local beaches/parks that aren't making profits? We use swan statues around building entrances but it's mostly just to keep them from nesting...
He even considered hiring gig workers, in this case skilled patrol dogs, as have other Finnish cities. But, he said, the few eligible dogs would have been too expensive. “And,” he lamented, “they would have been able to get there only a couple of times per week.”
It doesn't sound like it's a reasonable solution for local beaches/parks that aren't making profits? We use swan statues around building entrances but it's mostly just to keep them from nesting there and harassing people going into the ER for example. Harder with an empty beach than protecting just doorways.
Ah, thank you, somehow I missed that paragraph in my first read. To be fair, a lot of places where I grew up don't use specially trained dogs... turns out, your average golden retriever (or any...
Ah, thank you, somehow I missed that paragraph in my first read. To be fair, a lot of places where I grew up don't use specially trained dogs... turns out, your average golden retriever (or any other dog historically used for bird hunting) is perfectly happy to discourage some birds for free. One park actually asked people with dogs to walk around in the morning, if you have enough dogs around geese tend to lose interest in nesting, and that's where the most poop and aggressive behaviour tends to happen.
Of course, European dogs tend to be so much better trained than American dogs I wonder if they wouldn't inspire the same fear in the local goose population.
I used to work at a robotics lab with a large front lawn that was a passing through spot for geese on migration. We used to tell visitors they were robot geese, a claim belied by the poop covering...
I used to work at a robotics lab with a large front lawn that was a passing through spot for geese on migration. We used to tell visitors they were robot geese, a claim belied by the poop covering the parking lot.
You can also see them on a lake where we kayak in the summer. Seeing them get up to flight speed and take off from the water is pretty amazing to watch.
I don't know that we actually do anything in my part of Canada in the summer. They're just ever present and we accept that they live here in the summer and leave in the winter. They poop...
I don't know that we actually do anything in my part of Canada in the summer. They're just ever present and we accept that they live here in the summer and leave in the winter. They poop everywhere and hiss at the lightest infraction just like the PCs. It's a part of life, you learn very quickly to identify their poop and dodge it. Granted, some of our beaches are more rocky than sandy so poop is easier to clean. Canadian geese also eat a lot of grass and tend to avoid areas without ample supplies of grass. It sounds like the barnacle geese feed on... barnacles so are more present at Finnish beaches.
I do imagine that our water treatment plants and other infrastructure are designed to handle it though, so I can understand why the Finns would be upset if it's posing a health hazard as well.
As an aside, does the pooper scooper described in the article sound a lot like a nut roller like one of these?
Mirror: https://archive.is/wbOEr
Strange that they mention, but then completely ignore the patrol dog solution. A lot of parks and even golf courses in the Northeast use dogs for that exact purpose, and it works quite well. I've even seen some cheap places use cutouts of dogs, though I suspect that's less effective. At some point, culling is unavoidable, though -- I remember how bad Denver's parks got during the wintertime, just completely covered in Canadian goose poop. And the geese themselves can be very aggressive, hissing in large groups at anybody who comes near and pecking at children!
I wonder if American crow mitigation lasers could work, too.
It doesn't sound like it's a reasonable solution for local beaches/parks that aren't making profits? We use swan statues around building entrances but it's mostly just to keep them from nesting there and harassing people going into the ER for example. Harder with an empty beach than protecting just doorways.
Ah, thank you, somehow I missed that paragraph in my first read. To be fair, a lot of places where I grew up don't use specially trained dogs... turns out, your average golden retriever (or any other dog historically used for bird hunting) is perfectly happy to discourage some birds for free. One park actually asked people with dogs to walk around in the morning, if you have enough dogs around geese tend to lose interest in nesting, and that's where the most poop and aggressive behaviour tends to happen.
Of course, European dogs tend to be so much better trained than American dogs I wonder if they wouldn't inspire the same fear in the local goose population.
I used to work at a robotics lab with a large front lawn that was a passing through spot for geese on migration. We used to tell visitors they were robot geese, a claim belied by the poop covering the parking lot.
You can also see them on a lake where we kayak in the summer. Seeing them get up to flight speed and take off from the water is pretty amazing to watch.
I don't know that we actually do anything in my part of Canada in the summer. They're just ever present and we accept that they live here in the summer and leave in the winter. They poop everywhere and hiss at the lightest infraction just like the PCs. It's a part of life, you learn very quickly to identify their poop and dodge it. Granted, some of our beaches are more rocky than sandy so poop is easier to clean. Canadian geese also eat a lot of grass and tend to avoid areas without ample supplies of grass. It sounds like the barnacle geese feed on... barnacles so are more present at Finnish beaches.
I do imagine that our water treatment plants and other infrastructure are designed to handle it though, so I can understand why the Finns would be upset if it's posing a health hazard as well.
As an aside, does the pooper scooper described in the article sound a lot like a nut roller like one of these?