LITTLE ROCK — Though fewer in number, resident geese in North Little Rock’s Burns Park are still the source of complaints to the city Parks Department.
“We’re having some call ins from golfers on the weekends that the geese are coming back, and we’re looking into how to deal with that issue,” said Kate Finefield, the city’s park ranger.
The city hired a Benton company in January to deploy border collies in the park to chase the geese away, a tactic that has reduced the number of geese, parks officials have said. Officials also plan to buy a dog for the city to use permanently.
The Canada geese caused a stir in city politics after the North Little Rock City Council in November approved Finefield’s recommendation for a controlled goose hunt in the public park to take place in December.
The geese, who can defecate up to 92 times in a day, were soiling park trails, soccer fields and golf courses, and their approximate population of 200 was a threat to park users, staff members had reported.
After a group called Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park led a backlash against the decision, Mayor Patrick Hays postponed the hunt indefinitely to try nonlethal alternatives.
Also, lighting intended to disturb night nesting by geese has arrived, Finefield said, and should be installed soon with the hopes of forcing the geese to stay elsewhere.
Another tactic, egg addling, a process by which eggs are coated with oil to prevent hatching, is allowed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service between March 1 and June 30. The city applied and was approved in an online process in January for a permit, or “depredation order,” to pursue egg addling, Finefield said.
“We have to report the number of eggs addled or destroyed,” Finefield said. “Also, if we destroy nests, we report that number. You can destroy nests under this, but you can’t harm live birds.”
The city received the permit but is allowed to have Coalition to Save the Geese of Burns Park volunteers be responsible for supplying the manpower, Finefield said.
“We’ve already started our registration,” said Scott White, a coalition spokesman. “We’ve only made one call for volunteers and have around 20 actually registered so far.”
However, the group and the city haven’t yet finalized a “memorandum of agreement” defining terms for continuing nonlethal methods, Finefield and White said.
“We’ve asked the city for a commitment of a period of time where it will not use any lethal tactics,” White said. “We’re trying to get the details worked out and see what the city commits to doing. We, in turn, will commit our funds and our forces.”
The coalition has raised more than $4,000 toward its oral agreement for a 50-50 cost share with the city for the estimated $24,000 the nonlethal methods will cost. Failing to meet that requirement could bring back the call for a controlled hunt, Hays has cautioned.
Hays submitted legislation to the council in early January that would have granted him authority to allow the firing of guns within city limits to remove nuisance animals from any city property.
The coalition responded by breaking off any agreement with the city. The split was mended once Hays withdrew the proposal, saying that he remained committed to trying the nonlethal options.
Funds are still “trickling in,”White said, but the action hurt contributions. Contributions by mail and at a North Little Rock bank where an account has been established are still drawing donations, he said.
“But the last big development was that controversy over the hunt looking like it would be reinstated,” White said.
“That kind of impacted the speed of donations until we get the agreement with the city in place.”
However, ChipIn.com, an online collection source, has seen donations slow, then stop.
The site had recorded 76 contributions totaling $2,147 on Thursday, the same amount as one week before and just $56 more than the total Jan. 12.
“It has slowed down,” White said. “There are still some checks being mailed in and some walk-ins at the bank where people come in and donate.
“We’re kind of on hold a little bit while waiting on getting a real agreement in place with the city,” he added. “We’re just kind of hovering.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/06/2012