Meet Canada's Goosebuster Drone

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Tyler LeBlanc reports that Ottawa has a problem — a goose problem. Every summer the wandering waterfowl return to the beaches that line the Ottawa River leaving high concentrations of geese poop on beaches and in shallow water, which can lead to outbreaks of infection in human populations, particularly children. In the past, the city has tried a number of different methods of ridding their beaches of the geese, but this year, they are going high-tech. Steve Wambolt, the founder of Aerial Perspective, modified a drone with some flashing lights and speakers and took to the skies. 'I took existing land-based anti-pest technology and put it on a helicopter,' says Wambolt. 'When I tested it at the beach a few days later it worked remarkably well.' Using pre-recorded predatory calls (video) from hawks, eagles, owls, ravens and even wolves, Wambolt stalks the beaches of Petrie Island in an attempt to scare the loitering geese away from the area for good."

Comments

Who you gunna call?

[ArcadeNut]

Goosebusters!

Or...

[Anonymous Coward]

Life has never been easy for geese, but this summer, geese who just want to poop in peace have a new problem. As if the humans infesting the beaches of the Ottawa river weren't bad enough, now they've developed an obnoxious new behavior -- flying a drone with flashing lights and speakers that pretends to be a predatory animal. Many geese are saying that something ought to be done about this invasive species, but the goose on the street doesn't see a problem. One local who agreed to be quoted for this story said, "HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK," which is a fairly typical view around these parts.

Re:Or...

[penguinoid]

Many geese are saying that something ought to be done about this invasive species, but the goose on the street doesn't see a problem.

These geese don't know the half of it. The invasive species in question, thought to have originated in Africa and gone everywhere humans go, eating at their campsites and riding on their ships, is now causing the fastest mass extinction in history. You may have heard about mass extinctions causing a ~90% extinction rate -- well this one species is causing extinctions at a faster rate than any of those, and if it continues it will be the largest mass extinction in history. Worse yet, it is illegal in every country to hunt them, and if they make their home on a piece of land you're not allowed to use that land until they leave, and even then only with significant paperwork. They're not even endangered; they number over 7 billion, and are even thought to be impacting the global climate in a negative way, yet most nations have programs to provide them with food and assist their young and protect their habitat from any danger.

In the US, there is a large government program which keeps some of these in captivity, providing them food, water, and shelter -- over 2 million individuals at a staggering price of ~$30,000 each. This program has been widely criticized because, despite the large price tag, released individuals interact poorly with others of their kind and about half of them have to be returned to captivity. In recent years, funding for this program has been increased dramatically by this one initiative.

Though some are concerned about their increasing population numbers, there is a huge public outcry whenever anyone suggests a program to reduce their numbers directly or by discouraging breeding. Some people have suggested at least relocating a few groups where they can't harm other species, but so far these programs have little support and cannot be implemented. I strongly urge you to write to your representatives and demand something be done!

Shoot Them?

[brian.stinar]

Why not shoot the geese? The article didn't say that they were protected, endangered, or otherwise not-shootable. Is the section of Ottaway the geese are polluting not safe for discharging firearms?

In New Mexico, we have a number of animals that require culling (due to the elimination of top level predators) and the way New Mexico Game and Fish solves the problem is by issuing hunting licenses. This seems to work pretty well for us.

Re:Shoot Them?

[nitehawk214]

There are a lot of Canadian geese that do not bother migrating all the way back to Canada anymore. I am sick of getting hissed at while I walk along the Allegheny river trail every day.

Saw a goose totally flip the crap out on a police German Shepard last year. Dog was totally cool and ignored the goose the entire time.

heheheh

[slashmydots]

"Modified a drone with some flashing lights and speakers and took to the skies"
Over the speaker, they say "go fly somewhere else, eh? You hosers."

uh oh

[Charliemopps]

Better hope they're not like these Geese:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I hate geese.

It's a wild goose chase!

[nuckfuts]

(If you had RTFA, you too could have stolen that comment).

Re:Someone elses problem?

[LordLimecat]

Overly optomistic. The geese will get used to this thing, and eventually ignore / attack it.

I feel like I heard someone trying this in California with the same result.

What about the Geese?

[KermodeBear]

The Geese need somewhere to live, too. This stinks of homocentrism and speciesist thinking.

I can already see the cartoon

[ArcadeMan]

One goose says to another goose: "Let's not land here, there's flying wolves in these parts."

Re:why not open a hunting season on them?

[Sandman1971]

Hate to break it to you, but the river doesn't run in the middle of the city. The river is a natural border between the cities of Ottawa and Hull, and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Where Petrie Island is (just about a mile from my house), there's nothing but woods on the other side of the river.