Guide offers tips for managing urban geese

As Canada goose numbers have soared in recent years, so have complaints about urban goose problems — primarily goose droppings, overgrazing and trampling of vegetation, and aggressive behavior toward humans.

Scott Craven, extension wildlife ecologist at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, has co-authored a 42-page guide, “Managing Canada Geese in Urban Environments,” which describes legal, effective ways of persuading problem geese to go elsewhere.

“Urban Canada goose populations have increased dramatically in both numbers and distribution over the past 10 to 15 years,” Craven says. “Small numbers of geese are attractive and highly desirable, but it’s very easy to quickly experience too much of a good thing.”

The $10 guide is available from Cornell University Media and Technology Services Resource Center, 7 Cornell Business and Technology Park, Ithaca, NY 14850. Order #1471B243.