Goose cooked for unwelcome visitors
Desperate times call for desperate measures. And for the nuisance birds making life a misery for people living in a South Staffordshire village, it could soon be time to say goodbye.
Hunting dogs and birds of prey are being drafted in to deter flocks of anti-social Canada Geese from settling on the playing fields at Perton First School. The birds have been unwelcome guests at the school for the last three years, making play areas their home and stopping pupils from enjoying lunch breaks.
The mess they leave has also been branded as a health and safety issue.
But the birds' time in Perton could soon be up with the launch of Geese Peace, a scheme aimed at forcing them elsewhere. Dogs as well as birds of prey will be used to scare the geese away from the school and their usual home on Upper Lake.
Trials were being held at the lake yesterday with Fern, a German short-haired pointer.
The five-year-old dog belongs to Graham Rees, manager for the West Midlands and Staffordshire branch of NBC Bird and Pest Solutions.
"The presence of the dogs and birds will make it a bit uncomfortable for the geese," said Mr Rees.
"When the geese come on to the grass verge of the lake, the dogs will scare them back into the water.
"If they try to fly to the school the birds of prey above will also force them back into the water. Eventually, the birds will leave the lake and, hopefully, stay away for good."
Hayden Baugh-Jones, landscape planning man-ager at South Staffordshire Council, said the geese would not be harmed.
"The geese will not be attacked," he said. "The dogs are given a command to simply scare them away."
