Fowl-Tasting Grass

Wildlife control

Bad-tasting grass and dogs that act like predators are being added to the arsenal of weapons used to deter Canada geese at waterfront parks in Kirkland, Wash.

Like other cities around Lake Washington, Kirkland has struggled with increasing numbers of the geese, which have stopped migrating and settled in for the long haul, messing up the parks with their droppings in the process.

The city has set aside $60,000 for the anti-goose project this year, with the goal of encouraging the birds to go elsewhere.

As soon as next week, the city will enlist the help of a company that uses herding dogs to move the geese back into the water.

They will not catch or hurt the geese, but will act like predators in their motions to scare the geese away, city officials said.

The city will pay someone at one park to put a non-toxic grape derivative on the grass that makes it taste bad. The substance was created by Leonard Askham of Pullman, a former Washington State University professor who has proved the value of the repellent at Chief Timothy State Park on the Snake River.

Incidentally, the repellent’s main ingredient is the same chemical that gives grape soda its flavor.

Kirkland is also part of an ongoing effort called “addling,” in which goose eggs are injected with a chemical that keeps them from maturing. About 3,500 eggs have been addled in the last two years.

The city used to relocate geese, many to an area on the Snake River in Eastern Washington. That effort came to halt in 1994, when the city could no longer find a place that would agree to take the birds.