BELMAR — The Environmental Commission plans to implement a two-step method this spring to deter the growing Canada geese population in time for the Seafood Festival in late May, according to Borough Council President Thomas Brennan.
The proposed campaign combines oiling geese eggs to prevent them from maturation and hatching, followed up by employing dogs to stop the geese from getting comfortable enough to permanently settle around Silver Lake.
“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,” Councilman Brennan during Tuesday night’s borough council meeting.
The first step, he said, would involve a science-like experimentation outdoors in which the eggs are oiled to block the shell from absorbing oxygen and heat necessary to reach their maturation. The oil treatment method would eliminate the next generation of geese, adding to the increased number of resident and migratory geese.
Former Mayor Brian Magovern visited the Environmental Commission at its recent meeting to present his experiences during his time as an interim mayor in 2018 where he was known to have volunteered as the “Geese Peace dog handler.” Mr. Magovern has been volunteering in the same capacity for years with his border collie, “Cam.”
At the time, Belmar had the same problem with the geese population growing from the migratory Canada geese that took residence around Silver Lake, leaving their excrement on land and in water. At the time, Belmar entered into a PETA-approved program called Geese Peace.
The “Geese Peace” approach is defined as a “humane goose control solution” approved by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA].
he next step addresses the geese who have taken permanent residence in the lake. According to Councilman Brennan, an approach has been employed by neighboring towns in which dogs are deployed to shoo away geese, stopping them from settling in places like Silver Lake, so they “would get the sense that they are not welcome and just fly away.”
If the geese chose to stay in the water, the dogs were placed in a kayak to make the geese finally fly out. “If you chase them into the water, you may want to make them fly away from the water. But what he [Mayor Magovern] used to do is put the dog into a kayak and paddle [it] out and the birds would fly away. After a few times, they just get the sense they don’t want to come,” Mr. Brennan said.
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