Port eyes pooch for goose patrol

The Lorain Port Authority hopes a new fourlegged staff member can shoo away Canada geese from the Black River Landing waterfront festival site.

The Port board on Oct. 10 voted 7-0 to purchase a trained dog to bark at, chase and otherwise harass geese at Black River Landing and other Port properties.

“Geese know one thing: predators, and that’s what’s going to move them,” said Port Executive Director Tom Brown. “They need to be harassed out of their position.”

The dog will not hurt the birds, but will scare

them away. Port Economic Development Specialist Tiffany McClelland will be the dog handler, with Port Office Manager Kelsey Leyva as backup handler.

“I know it sounds preposterous but it sounds like a working solution to our dilemma here,” Brown said.

The project will cost about $6,000 to purchase the dog from Hudson Valley Wild Goose Chasers Inc. of Nyack, N.Y. By comparison, a program to hire a consulting firm that would use dogs for goose control would cost $11,300, Brown said.

The pooch likely will be a border collie “that is trained to herd the geese off any type of property or condition by stopping, staring and instilling fear in their quarry thereby teaching the geese that this is no longer a safe place,” according to an overview from the company.

“This process does not harm the geese,” according to Hudson Valley Wild Goose Chasers. “On land they are trained to sit down once the geese are airborne to then be recalled or redirected.”

The company said Canada geese are a nuisance but are regulated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Adult birds can produce up to four pounds of feces a day, which is unsightly and unsanitary, according to Hudson Valley Wild Goose Chasers.

At the Port office, 317 Black River Lane, the staff have a great view of Black River Landing, Brown said. Sometimes they also need a snow shovel to clear goose feces off the pavement, he said.

“Jokingly, I’ll say, Tiffany, would you please let your dog out, there’s geese all over the site, and, no kidding, a flock will come in,” Brown said. “As the weather starts getting colder, they come to the pavement every night because it’s warmer. So guess where every goose dropping, that they’ve eaten grass and seaweed all day, ends up?”

Goose droppings are problematic at the East Pier, also known as the Mile Long Pier, Brown said. At this year’s 100th anniversary celebration of the Lorain Lighthouse, a worker had to clear goose droppings from the area where Lighthouse Foundation board members, elected officials and the public gathered around the new historic marker, he said.

The trained dog will become part of the Port’s office environment and could be a helpful mascot for marketing the Port, Brown said.

The Port board members and staff said they do not yet have a name for the dog, which likely will be a nonswimming female. It was unclear when the new canine staffer would start.