(Op-ed from Greg Osborne of Mason CIty)
I’ve been doing a lot of walking in Mason City this summer; trying to undo 40 years of indulgence. I walk through East Park, Big Blue Pond, and the cemetery on South Federal. It’s disgusting! The goose manure. It looks like, well just what it is. Anyone who frequents these places will see it. Lots of it. On the sidewalks, on the grass, in the roads. Either you step over it or on it. After seeing how bad it can get I thought, “Do we really have to put up with this? Why doesn’t the city do something?” Probably they don’t know what to do other than sweep it away. If they did they’d be doing it. I’ve been told they sometimes do cleaning with a big rotating bush on a tractor. Last week in East Park some areas of the sidewalk were thick with it. I watched walkers and bikers look at it in disgust and then go the other way. But a few days later at the same spot there didn’t seem to be much on the sidewalk. Then I recalled that we’d had heavy rains for a couple days and probably the rain washed away most of it. The area I’m referring to is on the north side of the park and just east of the new footbridge leading to the municipal pool. If you go down and look at it now you will see a lot of the droppings but anybody who frequents that area will tell you this isn’t nearly as bad as it sometimes gets. This is maybe the worst area but many parts of the park show the evidence.
Getting back to why something isn’t being done…We know that if vandals were defacing the park the police would be right on it-just as they always do but I don’t think dispatch is going to have a couple officers go down at 5 a.m. and try to do something with 200 geese. In the true sense of the word the geese are not vandalizing the park. They don’t have a grudge against us. Maybe defacing is a better word.
Perhaps you’ve heard that many other cities are experiencing the same problem with flocks of nuisance Canada geese. The Rochester, MN city council tells me they are working on the problem but it’s hard to get political support. City maintenance crews there are landscaping with taller grasses and shrubs. Geese like to have a long view to watch for predators and a smooth approach to the water. They have also extended the hunting season and are doing egg shaking which will kill the embryo. Other places nation and worldwide have used chemical means: spraying the grass with something that makes the geese sick. There is also a chemical contraceptive that works well. The Dept. of Agriculture has culled-a nice word for shot-large numbers on the Atlantic Flyway because of crop destruction. Speaking of crop destruction recently the DNR was using a noise cannon at Fin and Feather Lake South of Mason City to scare away the geese. The geese were damaging a farmer’s soybean crop.
There are people who have made a business of goose control with dogs- preferably border collies. Naturally good at herding sheep their crouching attack approach is effective. There are coyote and dog decoys made for the purpose.
Back to East park. Across the river just east of the area mentioned earlier is the basketball court. The geese like to sit on the court in the morning. Not a short pickup game. It’s just a good lookout for predators. Of course the court is littered with goose poo. I don’t think anybody is going to be playing ball on it. For the most part I don’t think people like playing with feces. I don’t think I know anybody who does. At least I hope I don’t but I have been told by people in the cleaning industry around here that from time to time they find human feces smeared on the walls of public restrooms. Yes only the men’s so far. So there are a few among us. Then by the basketball court you have the playground stuff for kids and the Frisbee area and of course the grass is just as filthy as the basketball court. It’s just not so visible but it’s there if you look. If I had little kids I would be angry that they couldn’t use the equipment there. I wouldn’t let them.
Moving across town take a slow drive near the pond at the cemetery on South Federal Ave. Lots of it. If you do any walking there and quite a few people do-again it’s step on it or around it.
Over now to Big Blue. Drive in from Pearce Ave. on the West side and stop as you cross the sidewalk. Look to the south. The sidewalk is bad and at times really bad. There’s a shelter house and playground equipment above on the hill. Like playing volleyball there? Check your shoes. Or what if you’re barefoot? Likely the ball will have goose stuff on it so wash up good before you have lunch or a cigarette. Check again before walking on your carpet. I commented to another walker about the geese and the mess they leave. She didn’t seem bothered too much and said “Yeah but they’re pretty.” I agree, but at the expense of the mess they leave?
There’s lots on the Internet about the goose problem. Always the discussion flames up when the Save the Geese and the Geese Have Rights Too people get involved. Then the subject of health risk comes up. Centers for Disease Control told me there are four pathogens present in waterfowl excrement. The usual e coli and salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Campylobacter. The usual statement is that if there was a significant health risk we’d have known about it long ago. Of course but read up on these things and you’ll find that if you’re a normal healthy adult the worst you might come down with is a case of the runs or a queasy stomach for a few days. But then you read that for little kids, really old people and those with weakened immune defenses resulting from sickness or major operations the story can be quite different. An infection from these things lives in our digestive system but if it gets the upper hand it can enter the blood stream and then you’ll likely end up in intensive care or at the mortuary.
So if yer swimmin at Big Blue, by the beach anyway and ya get a gulp of water-Take a look right at the shoreline Jeez!-or if yer ridin through one of these areas on your bike and the back tire throws up somethin on the back of your neck or yer shirt “Oh what the heck not a big problem!
If you want to do more reading on the subject you can find records of outbreaks of e coli, salmonella and cryptosporidium infections that are not pretty. This happens even in cities whose water quality met all the standards. Just type in those names.
I talked to (I think) the main Cerro Gordo Conservation Commission field officer who said he’s been doing that job for 25 years and he just said good luck. He used words like opportunistic and highly intelligent and nuisance flocks. I told all this stuff to the Mason City Environmental Commission the other day. They were quite sympathetic but I was told people have been complaining for years.
So is there anything we can do? As a former goose hunter I know what many of you are thinking-if you’ve read this far. I know from experience geese would soon learn to stay away-at least for a while. There’s lots of hunters out there. That’s a big part of what the conservation commission is about. They are pro hunting. It’s necessary to keep the numbers down and it’s fun and provides food. Maybe we could shoot a bunch and give it to the community kitchen. I was told though that animal rights people show up to protest at meetings of hunting enthusiasts around here. These people do good sometimes but there are probably some who feel even crab grass and tape worms have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Some other interesting facts given to me by Brian at the Cerro Gordo Health Dept: Fake alligator heads have been placed in rivers in Iowa. They are tied to an anchor and float around to scare away the geese. Dead crows have been hung in trees in Mason City. The crows don’t like it and won’t roost there. It’s probably a histoplasmosis preventative.
I’ve attached some pictures of crap you can look at and some places where there’s no crap. You’ll see in these places the tall grass and other obstacles seem to deter the geese and the sidewalks are clean. At this point I really don’t know if anything other than shooting them would be effective but I’m going to keep working on it. In the mean time we pay money to make our parks very nice for us but some parts we can hardly use.
Photos:
