Wednesday, June 25, 2003
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Wednesday, June 25, 2003 |
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Canada geese unwelcome in PTC, will be deported By J. FRANK LYNCH
Life's a picnic for a flock of Canada geese who've taken up year-round residence at a Peachtree City park, and it's anything but for families trying to enjoy the park's amenities. And so the reluctant snowbirds will be given a one-way ticket back to their natural summer home, the far northern reaches of Canada, courtesy of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with hopes that next year they'll remember the flight and decide to take it on their own. According to Randy Gaddo, leisure services director for the city, the gaggle of geese who live in and around Picnic Park directly behind City Hall has grown to about 100 fowl, and that's more than enough to foul any plans for a human picnic. "The geese are creating an unhealthy environment at the picnic shelter and the All Children's Playground," said Gaddo. "It's like walking through a barnyard, from the picnic shelter and playground all the way down to the water." On Monday afternoon, just one family was brave enough to venture toward the All Children's Playground, and they didn't stay long once the honking birds began to approach, begging for food. The birds have been known to get overly aggressive, Gaddo said, and there are concerns about the safety of small kids who play in the park. The problem escalated this spring, and Gaddo decided to seek solutions. He contacted the USDA through the University of Georgia's Cooperative Extension Service. The relocation program was determined to be the most humane way to get the geese out of town. The chief biologist from Georgia's division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Wildlife Services will lead a team of biologists who will remove the geese from the park and relocate them back to the wild. According to the USDA chief biologist, Doug Hall, this is a problem not just in Peachtree City, but throughout the Southeast. "Canada geese have ceased to migrate to northern Canada like they used to," he said. "The warmer climates and plentiful food supplies give them no reason to go." The geese thrive on areas that have short grass, food sources and water, and Peachtree City has a plentiful supply of all three: recreational parks, golf courses and commercial business sites, prime targets for homesteading. The geese will be rounded up, tagged by USDA staff and placed in crates, then transported about 500 miles away and relocated into a remote natural area. Wild mallard ducks will also be collected and relocated, but a half dozen white domestic ducks will stay. "We know kids love to feed the ducks, so at least there will be a small flock there for them," said Gaddo. "We hate to have to take this measure, but it really has gotten to a point where the health and safety of park users is threatened." For more information about the relocation effort, call the Recreation Department at 770-631-2542.
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