» Unwelcome Geese Getting Bounced out of Central Park

Unwelcome Geese Getting Bounced out of Central Park

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

central-park-geese Geese seem to be New York City’s Enemy #1… first, the Miracle on the Hudson story, in which a flock of geese forced Captain “Sully” Sullenberger to land US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River in January 2009, led the city to round up and euthanize hundreds of Canada geese surrounding the city airports. Now, the Central Park Conservancy is telling the Canada geese residing in the park that they are not welcome. The Conservancy reports that it will continue a program established in 2007 to reduce the number of geese in the park to help prevent damage caused by the birds, which includes overgrazed lawns and goose droppings scattered throughout the park that are high in nitrogen, damaging the grass and spurring algae growth in the park’s water bodies . Fortunately, the Conservancy’s program is reported to be a humane way to evict the geese. Using a trained border collie (bred to herd sheep and possessing a natural instinct to round up geese), the Conservancy’s geese management contractor disperses the flock from its favorite spots in Central Park (lawns such as Sheep Meadow, North Meadow and the Great Lawn). Geese will finish molting in late August, and with regrown feathers comes the ability to fly and clearance for the geese management contractor to scatter the flocks from the park. Visitors to the park may see the program, deemed successful after an estimated 40 to 50 percent drop in geese in the park, in action within the next couple of weeks.