BELMAR – The Environmental Commission plans to implement a two-step approach this spring to deter the growing geese population in time for the Seafood Festival in late May, according to Council President Thomas Brennan.
The proposed two-step geese elimination campaign combines a little-known scientific approach of oiling the eggs to prevent them from maturation and hatching, followed up by the practicality of employing dogs to watch the geese from getting comfortable to take permanent settlement around Silver Lake.
“We had a plan about the geese. It’s a two-step plan [of] what has to happen in April. This is going to be done with DPW. They did it last season. It was very successful. No new hatchings this spring but we still have 40 resident geese,” said Councilman Brennan.
The first step, according to the councilman, would involve a science-like experimentation outdoors where eggs would be oiled to block the shell absorbing oxygen and heat to supposedly help them reach their maturation. The oil treatment method would eliminate another generation of geese from being born and adding to the increased number of resident and migratory geese, contributing to total geese traffic.
The next step addresses the living geese who have taken permanent residence in the lake. According to Councilman Brennan, the approach has been employed by neighboring towns twenty years ago where dogs are placed strategically to prevent the geese from taking a comfortable reign in areas they deemed welcoming, like the silver lake, and “would get the sense that they are not welcome and just fly away.”
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