Ken Wightman Sun Media -- Scratch the border collie works the early morning shift keeping the Canada geese off Storybook Park walkways, where they leave their droppings and pose a potential threat to small children. And so Scratch sits, almost daring the large waterfowl to leave the pond.
By IAN GILLESPIE
One of the city's newest employees is smart, highly qualified and gets along well with her co-workers.
But she hasn't been fixed yet.
Meet Scratch, a three-year-old border collie hired by the city to roust the gangs of geese from the grounds of Storybook Gardens.
"She's an employee," says Tom Hudecki, assistant zookeeper at Storybook Gardens. "But you want to treat her like a pet, too."
The problem, more specifically, is goose poop.
Stroll a short distance through Storybook Gardens or Springbank Park and you'll almost certainly encounter green blobs of goose crap.
"It's a big concern for our patrons," admits John Riddell, manager of Storybook Gardens. "Last year, it showed up on our surveys as one of the top things that annoyed our guests."
There's not only the unpleasant -- and potentially unhealthy -- side-effects of goose feces. There's also the chance that a goose -- particularly one guarding a nest of eggs this time of the year -- might react aggressively to a curious child.
"They do nip at you and they will give you a pretty good whack on the back of the head," says Hudecki, adding the geese will hiss, bite and even strike a perceived predator with a wing. "We had a (nesting) pair that was so aggressive, the gardeners didn't want to go anywhere near them."
1 comment:
Steve!!
You're not alone out there buddy! Maybe Scratch can work EZRyder Cup weekends !
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