Adhering to its Canada Goose Management Plan, Prospect Park will again be hiring the trained border collies and their professional handlers from Goose Busters to safely and humanely discourage geese from congregating in the Park. The border collies will be patrolling the area around the Lake during January, before the breeding season begins, to help manage the goose population in the Park.

The Plan makes the park less attractive to geese by discouraging the public from feeding the wildlife, modifying goose habitats where possible, and using trained border collies to urge geese to move out of the park. This also includes egg addling, a process that involves going to nesting sites early in the in the nesting season and rendering the eggs unviable by coating them with oil. The goal of the Plan is to discourage non-migratory Canada geese from making a permanent home in Prospect Park, where, in the absence of natural predators, they will quickly multiply and possibly upset the delicate ecosystem of the Lake and its surroundings.

Comprehensive programs like Prospect Park’s are working in many communities where geese and people share public spaces. Resources and information on trainings to implement humane wildlife management programs are available at the Humane Society of theUnited States website. By implementing this plan, the Prospect Park Wildlife Management Advisory Committee aims to keep the population of Canada geese in Prospect Park low enough to avoid any future intervention by federal agencies.

[All following links are PDFs ]

In September of 2010 Prospect Park formed a Wildlife Management Advisory Committee consisting of professionals involved with animal welfare, education, science and urban park management and local community representatives.

In November of 2010 the Park drafted a Canada Goose Management Plan based on specific recommendations from the Committee.   The aim of this Plan is to maintain the goose population at levels that will facilitate cleaner shorelines and water, support a diverse array of waterfowl within Prospect Park’s 585 acres, and potentially keep the population of Canada Geese in the Park low enough to avoid intervention by federal agencies.
 
More information:

• Q & A: Overview Wildlife Management Advisory Committee and Canada Goose Management Plan

• Q & A: What is Egg Addling and how is it being used at Prospect Park?

• Q & A: Use of Border Collies  to Help Manage Canada Geese

The Humane Society of the United States and New York City Audubon Applaud Prospect Park for Humane Goose Management Program.  Read more.

Please address any questions about the wildlife management at Prospect Park to: info@prospectpark.org