Sault Ste. Marie city council agreed tonight to look at options for controlling the hordes of Canada Geese taking over our parks and waterfront.
"I was happy bringing this forward after really mulling it over, over the last few months," said Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo.
"The geese this year have been excessive, in my opinion, and in the opinion of many folks who I've spoken to," Caputo said.
"The parking lot here at city hall is a great example of not being able to walk through without finding yourself slipping in goose droppings.
"The boardwalk, Clergue Park and Bellevue Park. Now that I have a little one, I can see firsthand it is hard to manage a little kid at Bellevue Park who just wants to run through the grass and is being hissed at and the wingspan is coming out in full force. It's dangerous.
"I think there is an opportunity, while our staff has done their best to manage this... just in southern Ontario alone there are over a million geese. I feel like there are a million in the Sault.
"I think it's just a problem that that has gotten out of hand and out of reach of where our staff can manage it. I've been at Bellevue Park when the scare gun goes off and it's not very scary to the geese anymore.
"I'm hoping that we can take back our beautiful assets and that people are going to be able to use them again.
"When I posted about this on social media, I got a huge response from so many people saying they can't walk their dogs down there. They can't bring their kids down there. They're not using our assets and that's really upsetting to me, especially given that we live in a cold climate, snowy for so much of the year.
"Once the snow melts, I really hope that citizens in Sault Ste. Marie can use these assets to their full potential.
"I'm hoping that by putting a good management plan in place, we will be able to see that through soon enough," Caputo said.
"At first, it might seem like a trivial thing," added fellow Ward 3 Coun. Ron Zagordo, who seconded Caputo's motion.
"Living across the street from an elementary school and seeing the impact that migration has on children, it's a good thing to see what other communities might be doing," Zagordo said.
Councillors agreed to have city staff investigate the cost and feasibility of a goose management plan, including how much we're currently spending on controlling and cleaning up after the birds, which defecate as often as 20 times a day.