Geese and Swans Don't Mix: Which Helped in a Minnesota Town's Park

"A swan song for Noonan's geese?"
(October 7, 2009)

"The swans at Noonan Park in Alexandria are fooling people and geese.

"That's a good thing, especially the part about the geese.

"The swans – four of them – are actually decoys placed by the Alexandria Park Department in an effort to discourage more geese from landing in the park.

"Park Superintendent Bill Thoennes has been trying to control the growing goose problem at Noonan for sometime now.

"Their droppings created a mucky mess of the pond this past spring, which cleared up after the city treated the water. But the problems continue to surface...."

This is from Alexandria, Minnesota's Echo Press. The town is just 20 miles up the road from where I live: and I've seen the ersatz swans. They're quite convincing. Generally. I understand that they've been known to blow over.

I suppose a person could see this as a problem: disenfranchised geese; avian intolerance; or something along those lines. But I think this sounds like a good idea - and a fairly inexpensive fix.

On the other hand, those geese did add something to the ambiance of the park - besides their droppings.

---

A tip of the hat to irish_brigid, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this.