to state, federal agencies
for help with geese
Old Bridge vows fowl
won’t be exterminated
Officials reach out
to state, federal agencies
for help with geese
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — As it tries to please both sides of a neighborhood divided, the township is exploring an effective, yet humane means of keeping Canada geese away from residential areas.
The issue of how to best deal with the geese that have been wandering through the back yards of homes in the Whispering Pines Estates is not an easy one to resolve, conceded Tom Badcock, the township’s director of parks, recreation and social services.
Nonetheless, Badcock, whose department oversees maintenance at the township’s recreational facilities, has consulted federal and state agencies that deal with geese control to see how Old Bridge can legally prevent the geese from walking through the 242-unit development.
"There’s no foolproof way to handle it," Badcock said on Friday.
Whispering Pines Estates, which crosses Patio Greens Drive, is located between Route 516 and Jake Brown Road.
The neighborhood’s residents have blamed a detention pond in front of the Heilbrunn Business Park located on Route 516 for attracting the geese that later come into the development.
About 25 residents of Whispering Pines first asked municipal officials to help them rid the geese from their back yards, patios and sidewalks at a March 22 Township Council meeting.
About 10 other Whispering Pines residents, disturbed by rumors that their neighbors wanted the township to obtain a federal permit to exterminate the geese, protested any such action at the same meeting.
Since that time, Badcock has been reviewing information received from the New Jersey office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to determine how to keep the geese out of the development. Badcock expects to present a proposal for geese control to Mayor Jim Phillips later this month.
"The recommendation to the mayor will be based on information from the USDA," Badcock said.
Extermination by gas will not be considered, Badcock said, because such action requires a federal permit.
"Gassing is not something we’re looking at," Badcock said.
In addition, the federal government will not grant a gassing permit until after a community has unsuccessfully tried other means of controlling the geese, he said.
"You have to have exhausted all the other methods," Badcock said.
Badcock, however, believes that the pond, combined with the numerous wetlands in the area, provide a sort of habitatfor the geese. The 1,100-acre Runyon Watershed that touches the Whispering Pines development at its northwest end also draws the migrating geese, Badcock said.
The watershed, previously owned by the City of Perth Amboy, was purchased for open space preservation last year by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Likewise, a vacant, basin-like space at the end of Patio Greens Drive near Jake Brown Road is a destination for the geese as well, Badcock added.
Canada geese formerly spent the winters and early spring in the southern part of the United States, Badcock said, referring to the research materials from the USDA. In recent years, the geese are not traveling as far south and are increasingly nesting in New Jersey communities, particularly in late winter and early spring, he said.
"It’s a regional problem in many states," Badcock said. "The migratory habits have changed for all of these waterfowl," he said.
Golf courses are especially prone to attract the geese, Badcock said. Many course owners employ dogs to chase them away, he said.
The township is not considering using dogs, however, and hopes that regardless of the method used, those lobbying to protect the geese will also be appeased, Badcock said.
"We’ve got to think of a humane way to handle this," he said.
The Whispering Pines residents who complained to township officials reported that geese droppings have prevented them from using their back yards and patios.
One parent complained that the geese became aggressive with his two young children as they tried to play in the family’s back yard.