Bay Ward Councillor Alex Cullen supports joint NCC/City of Ottawa/Ville de Gatineau initiative to control Canada Geese problem

Ottawa - Bay Ward Councillor Alex Cullen today (June 22/09) announced his support for the joint National Capital Commission/City of Ottawa/Ville de Gatineau initiative to control the Canada Geese problem of soiling public parks, etc. in the National Capital region.

Part of this initiative will be the use of trained dogs (i.e. border collie dogs) to "haze" Canada Geese in Andrew Haydon Park and Dick Bell Park in Bay Ward, in order to discourage the geese from frequenting and soiling these parks with their excrement.

Said Councillor Cullen: "Andrew Haydon Park gets hundreds of geese, sometimes even more than 1,500 geese, using Andrew Haydon Park daily and spoiling it for families with their poop. Canada Geese eat on average 4 pounds of food a day and excrete 2 pounds daily, and this ruins these parks for family recreation."

Councillor Cullen noted that the use of trained dogs will be under City supervision, and will meet Canada Wildlife Services guidelines for dealing with nuisance geese. The pilot project for Andrew Haydon Park will start later in August, when the moulting stage for goslings will be completed.

Said Councillor Cullen: "The purpose is to discourage these geese from using Andrew Haydon Park - not to harm them. There is plenty of space on the Ottawa River and in the Greenbelt to accommodate these birds in a more natural habitat".

Joint new release: City of Gatineau - NCC - City of Ottawa - English - Français

Alex Cullen
Councillor, Bay Ward
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Ave. W.
Ottawa K1P 1J1
(613) 580-2477 fax: (613) 580-2517
e-mail: alex.cullen@ottawa.ca
www.alexcullen.ca