Stevens Point tries cardboard dogs to deter geese

STEVENS POINT – City staff members are asking for no fowl play in Pfiffner Pioneer Park, where the Parks and Recreation Department is testing the effectiveness of its new geese deterrent: cardboard dogs.

The three black cutouts, which cost about $40 each, are moved to new locations around the band shell each day in an effort to keep geese off the grass area. Parks Director Tom Schrader said the tactic appears to be working, with city workers finding that the geese stay 40 to 50 yards away from the dogs — though a Stevens Point Journal Media reporter who visited the area Friday found some ducks happily grazing within feet of one of the cutouts.

"The reason we have the goose problem now, we had that drought and we irrigated in front of the band shell," Schrader said. "Hopefully now with the rain, the grass will green and they'll just spread out to different areas."

Schrader said the city is planning on making more dog cutouts, and it also placed reflective kites in trees, which feature bright yellow eyes and red Mylar streamers.

"Hopefully that scares them too from coming on shore," he said.

In the past, the city has asked people to walk around the park with toy clappers, a sound that scared geese away. The cardboard dogs were installed last week, which Schrader said are intended to shoo away geese and keep them from leaving calling cards in areas in which kids play and people enjoy walking barefoot.

"It's the annoyance and the debris they leave," he said.

A variety of methods for scaring off pest birds are available, from visual to audio devices. Some, like the reflective tape kites, can be purchased from BirdBusters, an online store operated out of Florida that sells devices to deter birds.

Jack Wagner, owner of the store, said there's no guarantee that any products will be successful; it depends how much time and money people want to invest in resolving the problem.

He said urban geese that have made their homes in one area are the hardest to address.

"They're set in their ways," Wagner said. "They're not migrating."

Wagner said he recommends starting with flash tape, which is red and silver and can hang in trees. When wind blows through it, the tape produces a humming sound that annoys geese.

Schrader said Stevens Point has not considered hunting or trapping the waterfowl, but other municipalities have tried the tactic.

Wisconsin Rapids Public Works Superintendent Jim Borski said his city culled geese in 2013 when the population spiked to about 200 in one park. He said the city paid the Department of Natural Resources' Fish and Wildlife service to bring in a team and trap about 65 geese.

"It had a noticeable effect," Borski said.

The geese were euthanized and processed, and the meat was donated to pantries. He said the city didn't think the measure was necessary this year.

"We did not have any heavy concentration of birds in any one particular area," he said.

Schrader said he expects the birds to move out in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, he encourages people to clap at geese and move them back toward the river.

"Don't hurt them, but scare them back in the water," he said.

Sari Lesk can be reached at 715-345-2257. Follow her on Twitter as @Sari_Lesk.