Muncie to geese: Get outta town

MUNCIE – The city is launching an ambitious plan to try to relocate hundreds of Canada geese from local parks and trails.

"We want to thin them out some," Mayor Dennis Tyler told The Star Press Wednesday. "It's hard for families to have picnics because of all the poop, for lack of a better word."

Tyler said the city would work with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to relocate geese from the trail along White River as well as McCulloch and Heekin parks.

"We could relocate 800 or a thousand and still have plenty," Tyler said.

Although Canada geese add a touch of nature to local parks, ponds and White River banks, authorities say the geese have become a nuisance over the past few decades. Indiana DNR notes that the geese were "extremely rare" in Indiana less than 40 years ago.

But creation of new permanent bodies of water like retention ponds in development areas means that geese are more likely to return to the same spots for nesting year after year. They can damage grass, leave behind droppings on trails and river banks and react defensively to passersby.

The state notes there are federal regulations regarding migratory birds but the state issues permits for trapping and other goose population reductions. The state notes, however, that communities must make well-organized plans to effectively reduce nuisance geese populations.

In Muncie, past efforts have included hunting geese, including a 2010 hunt at the city-owned park at Prairie Creek Reservoir.

"It's good to have a few," Tyler said Wednesday. But he added that he saw 200 to 300 geese during a Sunday bike trip along the White River greenway.

Tyler said he's asked city parks superintendent Harvey Wright to get cost estimates for cages in which to trap and/or transport geese.

"We'll catch them and safely relocate them," Tyler said. "That's the humane way to do it.

"We want to make sure people can enjoy our trails and parks and have picnics and not have to worry about what they are stepping in," the mayor added.

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.