They're getting ready to have soccer games in Canada as part of the World Cup, featuring humans from Canada and nations all over the globe. And geese from Canada. They fly overhead and might even land on the field (the "pitch," as soccer fans call it) and however they travel, they are bound to leave their little ...biscuits behind.
That's no way to play important games of soccer ("football," as soccer fans call it), having to dodge geese droppings.
Canadians being infinitely resourceful (they found a way to make Geddy Lee and Rush famous), the grounds crew at a World Cup practice pitch in Etobicoke’s Centennial Park found a way to keep the field unpoopulated.
They use dogs, working canines employed by Border Control Bird Dogs, out of Sterling, Ontario.
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| Soccer dog "Ben" reporting for duty |
This is Gareth Williams's business. He has taught the hounds to "haze" the geese, instead of chasing them. Williams says this “reeducates” the birds. By convincing the geese that there are predators in the area, this keeps them away, so it's considered a humane way of keeping birds off grassy areas.
“The dogs crouch down and stalk the geese, as they would traditionally for sheep and moving livestock,” Williams told CTV News Toronto. “Geese then start thinking the border collies are predators in that area, and it encourages them to leave.”
Williams has a five-dog squad that he dispatches around the province, at golf courses, schools, cemeteries, and any other type of large, open green space. The premise is that "they’re fighting nature with nature, ” as he puts it.
Down here in the states, we would just send hoodlum dogs to tell the geese to "get outta town if you know what's good for you, see?" They're more restrained north of the border!
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