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POMPTON LAKES - Goose eggs addled
(by Leslie Scott - Staff Writer - April 23, 2008)
POMPTON LAKES - Borough residents will see at least 153 fewer goslings waddling in a perfect line throughout the parks this spring.
With one week left in the addling program, the 15 volunteers found more than 30 nests and were able to addle 153 eggs within three weeks.
Mayor Katie Cole was happy to find so many eggs in the borough.
“I think it is such a good start. It is a humane system, and it was just a good experience all the way around,” said Cole.
For about a year, the municipality and the school system have been working with NJ Jersey Wild Geese of Kearny to keep Canada geese off of the fields and out of the parks with trained border collies.
Cole said she decided to participate in the addling program because the border collies’ efforts to scare the geese away only helped up to a certain point.
“Each year the number of geese in the area seems to be going up, so this seems the best way to handle it. We couldn’t possibly have the dog on every field, and this seems like the way to go,” said Cole.
This program consists of rubbing eggs that do not have an air sack with corn oil, which stops them from maturing.
First, a volunteer lures the geese from their nest with an open umbrella. Another volunteer places the eggs in a bucket of water. Eggs that don’t float are then rubbed with the oil and marked.
Volunteers had to revisit these nests to make sure the geese did not lay more eggs.
The geese are very protective when it comes to their young. Cole said they became aggressive when the volunteers looked through their nests.
As the volunteers held up their umbrellas, the geese beat up against them hard enough to break them. In some cases, the geese chased after the volunteers.
“You hold the umbrella up to stop the goose from flying into you, but the geese are very persistent and the umbrella actually broke, but they were successful with completing the project,” said Cole.
Cole thanked the 15 residents who volunteered to participate.
“I’m just happy it worked out so well and I am very proud of all the volunteers that got out there and did it. They knew it would not be an easy thing when they saw that the geese can be aggressive, but everybody went out and did it,” said Cole.
Oiling the eggs is the first part of the process. The next phase consists of making the geese feel uncomfortable about staying where they are by dismantling their nests.
“You’ll start making them feel uncomfortable about being where they are so they will physically go elsewhere,” said volunteer and environmental officer Ed Merrill.
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