Foster City and county leaders will review a plan to address a growing Canadian geese population. Robert Handa reports.
Foster City and county leaders will review a plan to address a growing Canadian geese population.
The city for years has been trying to figure out what to do with the birds and the mess they leave behind at Leo Ryan Park, which some have said is a health hazard.
"Anything they can do to get rid of the geese would be an improvement," Foster City resident Karen Dyckman said. "They are horrible. They leave droppings all over the place. A mess to walk through. You try to walk your dogs through it and they try to eat it. It is just disgusting."
Figuring out a solution has been problematic for the city. A frustrated city council in 2022 approved a plan that would have killed about 100 geese, but backed off after animal rights groups staged protests and the city reported about 15,000 complaints.
The city council on Monday will review a plan based largely on a similar effort in New Jersey, utilizing noise devices, flashing lights, as well as disrupting nesting areas.
"These are measures that are expensive, but really important," San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said. "Just killing the geese is not the right solution. We don't know if that's going to stop the geese moving forward, but it's just so inhumane."
The city and county are not rushing the process and the current mitigation plan is a three-year process. If it works, officials said they would like to expand it to all the other parks in the area.
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