Strange beasts stalking Silver Lake in Waterloo
Don’t be alarmed if you see some strange new creatures in Waterloo Park. They’re plastic, totally harmless and the wild-eyed beasts are there to scare geese, not you.
The City of Waterloo stationed about eight decoy coyotes around the park earlier this month to test if they’ll keep geese – and the mess they create – away from popular spots.
City staff say they received a number of complaints about the birds last season.
People in the park on Thursday had also noticed the issue.
“[You] just have to avoid the goose droppings when you’re going for a walk,” one parkgoer told CTV News.
“Obviously a lot of geese poop,” said another person passing through.
The decoys aren’t meant to make the geese go away entirely, but mostly to keep them off the main paths.
“We have a plan to put a broader goose management program together, but in the meantime we wanted to think of a way to help deter geese,” Tom Margetts, manager of park operations for the City of Waterloo, explained. “So as an experiment, we purchased some coyote decoys in a few different stances, a few different models, and we’ve placed them around the lake.”
A coyote decoy, aimed at scaring away geese, is seen in Waterloo Park on April 18, 2024. (Chris Thomson/CTV Kitchener)
Coyotes are natural predators of Canada geese, Margetts said. The decoys’ tails also move in the wind, which could act as an additional deterrent.
City staff plan to periodically rotate them around the park over the course of the spring.
“We’ll try them in the next few months, we’ll probably move them away in the summer and maybe look at bringing them back in the fall,” he said.
Integrative biology professor at the University of Guelph, Shoshanah Jacobs, likes the idea but says the geese could catch on soon because the visual cue isn’t paired with a chemical one, such as scent.
“Unless they are in combination and actively enforced with some kind of negative consequence, these cues tend to become less and less important to wildlife,” said Jacobs.
A chemical deterrent of sorts would likely keep humans out as well, Jacobs adds.
But the city will explore a combination of options as it hopes to make a walk in the park – exactly that.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.