(Fox Lake) The Fox Lake City Council Wednesday night will discuss a non-lethal method of controlling Canada geese. The Fox Lake Town Board voted earlier this year to have the US Department of Agriculture round up Canada geese for depopulation. The effort typically begins in mid-June when the geese are molting and cannot fly. The Fox Lake City Council last month voted 4-to-2 to contribute $1000 to the township’s effort, which is about a quarter of the cost.
City officials say thousands of dollars are being invested in rejuvenating Claussen Park and the geese will wreak havoc on pedestrian walkways and children’s sandboxes. Robert Culver of the Town of Fox Lake urged the city council earlier this month to consider alternatives and officials agreed to discuss the matter tonight (Wednesday). One such method of repelling waterfowl involves the use of a synthetic grape flavor found in Jolly Ranchers or Kool-Aid. Culver says he hopes to prove to city and township officials that the alternative method will work, so they can save the municipalities thousands of dollars.
“The spraying method, over the long term, has been the most effective method and it certainly is the most humane method,” Culver told us Monday on WBEV’s Community Comment, “because the only way you really get rid of the geese is to change the habitat.”
Town of Fox Lake Chairman Wayne Kok was also on Monday’s program and noted that a method applied to grass does not work on concrete.
“We are dealing with a boat launch,” Kok says. “We have put a lot of money into that facility, we just put in a wonderful handicap kayak launch, a handicap pier, and a lot of the people who use those facilities also have health issues, so we need to be mindful of not only the geese but we also have to be mindful of the users of our facilities.”
Monday’s show also featured insights from USDA Wildlife Biologist Dan Hirchert.
“We recommend multiple methods at virtually every site,” Hirchert says. “It’s never one product or one method that is going to solve all of the problems, it’s always a variety of tools in the toolbox to fix the problem and what might work in one area might not work in others.”
The Fox Lake Committee of the Whole meeting at city hall begins after a Special Common Council meeting scheduled for 6:30pm.
