Nutley To Employ Dogs To Chase Away Geese

NUTLEY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A new plan is in place to chase away the endless number of Canadian Geese who have been flocking in the parks of Nutley, New Jersey.

Nutley is home to 110 acres of municipal park land, manicured lawns, bike trails and picturesque ponds. But as CBS2's Elise Finch reports, residents say that in the past few years the geese have really taken over.

"I like their beautiful feathers but I don't want them pooping all around here," 5-year-old Matthew BeBello said.

Another Nutley resident agreed with the child.

"Their feces is all over, you can't even have a picnic or anything over here," David McCabe said.

Nutley officials say the geese droppings are a nuisance and a health hazard. So they're unleashing the dogs. Specifically, a group of border collies trained to scare the geese away -- but not hurt them.

"Hopefully what they're going to do is  and they're going to realize that this is not a friendly place to be and they're going to go somewhere else," Commissioner of Parks and Public Property Mauro Tucci said. "Now while we want to rid our parks of them we want to do it in a very humane way."

Experts say because the geese have been living in these Nutley parks for several years they won't leave quickly, Finch reports. So the dogs will be out chasing them twice a day every day for the next 12 weeks.

"The natural predator in the wild is the Arctic Fox and what they do is get down low and stalk and stare so the border collies actually replicate that," said 'Geese Chasers' Brooke Bello.

"Everything I've learned, everything I've read about them, you just have to annoy them and I believe the dogs will do that," General Superintendent of Parks Harry Kirk said.

While some residents have expressed their disapproval of this technique, people CBS2 spoke to were supportive.

"I think it's a great idea because you can't even walk over there," said Clifton resident Barbara Pietruszewski.

Officials and park goers hope the collies will finally make their poop problems go away for good.

"If the dogs are going to be successful in chasing them away, frightening them but not bringing any long-lasting harm I think it's a great idea," said Nutley Resident Lou DeBello.

In the past, Nutley employees used balloons, cardboard coyote cut outs and even sounds machines to get the geese to leave.

They will pay the geese chasers $1,500 a month for three months to parole the area with border collies.