Township Continues Efforts to Reduce Geese Population
Township Committee approves application for egg addling program
Lacey Township will continue its efforts to reduce the geese population after approving an application for an egg addling program.
The application, which is to be submitted to the United States Department of Agricultural (USDA), was unanimously approved by the municipal government Thursday.
“I think last year we certainly started to make an impact and I think the program worked well,” Committeeman Gary Quinn said of the 2012 addling program.
Last year, the township began exploring options to control its geese population, tabling euthanizing the birds but proceeding with harassment techniques such as an eagle kite and habitat changes.
The eagle kite will not be used this year. With the eagle kite, geese were conditioned to flee when a whistle was blown.
“The conditioning didn’t have the lasting effects that I would have liked,” Recreation Director Jim Wioland said. “It would have taken many more visits, which would have added to the dollar amount to have the geese conditioned to the point where we would have them start to vacate.”
For the service to be effective, it has to be continuous, he said.
“Those types of services are pricey. They run in the thousands,” he said.
Also, once the geese were conditioned, they would eventually adapt and realize the whistle wasn’t an actual threat, he said.
Last year, the township began an egg addling program as well. The USDA found and treated 117 eggs. The program cost $2,400.
“I feel it was very productive,” Mayor David Most said.
In egg addling, the USDA locates the eggs and determines if they are new or mature by putting them in water. If an egg floats, it’s too developed for the addling to be effective.
Eggs that are relatively new are rubbed in corn oil, which keeps that egg from hatching, Wioland said.
“You start to control the number of geese you have in the area,” Wioland said. “By helping to reduce the number of geese being born each year, over time it’ll have a lasting effect.”
This technique will take longer to see positive effects, he said. Last year, there were four goslings on the lake. Although 117 eggs were treated, not all would have hatched or become full grown geese had the addling not been done.
If 25 percent of the 117 eggs hatched and became full grown, that’s 30 geese now off the lakes, Wioland said.
“We’re helping to just keep the balance there,” he said. “Right now there’s no balance of nature. They continue to reproduce at an alarming rate.”
The USDA will begin the addling program in the beginning of March, Wioland said. Last year, the workers were at the lakes every seven to 10 days from March 1 through May and a couple weeks in September.
By applying to use the USDA, the township would not have to obtain its own permit to do the addling. The USDA has a permanent permit on file, Wioland said.
There had been considerations to recruit volunteers throughout the township to train to addle eggs.
“I did review the option of finding volunteers and look at the amount of time it would take to manage the volunteer program,” Wioland said. Wioland would have to give something up that brings the township revenue in order to manage the program.
“In this instance, it makes financial sense to outsource this service to a professional,” he said.
Longtime resident Otto Zehl has been advocating saving the township’s lakes for many years. He thanked the township for once again acting on an egg addling program but proposed shutting down the beach this summer.
“I’m wondering how good it’s going to do,” he said, adding that right now there are approximately 300 geese on the lake. “I don’t know what we’re going to do about the beach this summer because it’s just fouling. It’s just absolutely unusable.”
An effective geese management plan will be done in stages and take time, Most said.
“That’s a historic part of our town,” Most said, opposed to closing the beach.
The township will also have to look into other possibilities and capital projects such as dredging the lake, he said.
“I hate to say it but the solution that the township committee came to last year, before it was derailed, was I think the proper one,” Zehl said of when the township was considered euthanizing the geese population. “It’s been proved. We have tried many different ways.”
Dave Sleeper
7:10 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Oh yeah, last years program was a howling success! Ten geese died laughing their asses off. I can hardly wait for this years attempt. Maybe if Elmer Fudd isn't busy, after Wabit Season, he could Bwast 'em!
VoiceofReason
7:30 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
How about "control the human population" - C'mon really?????????????
The reason there are so many is the same with why theres so many deer, and other animals. We are taking over their natural habitats. The water is theirs. NOT ours. They have no fields, no where for them to inhabit. It's sad. Keep building strip malls that stay vacated for years and years. Keep building condos and old people communities. Watch how the people blame animals for being "too populated". It's disgusting. Leave nature some land for chsts sake!
WhyOhWhy
10:03 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Heh.... I'd LOVE to control the human population for a while... maybe then I wouldn't have to pay for so many on Welfare!!!
Robert Yates
9:54 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Approximately 16 and 1/2 trillion dollars in debt and the federal government is spending money on "egg addling" The Republican controlled committee has no problem adopting this program as someone else is paying for it (apparently forgetting that we all pay tons of federal taxes too.) How can anyone think this country is not doomed to financial ruin after reading this article?
Kristopher King
12:20 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Let's see. How can we take a problem that has a relatively easy and cost effective fix and apply a totally asinine solution?
jabe0312
12:22 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
It's just cheaper to blow their ugly heads off!
VoiceofReason
1:05 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I'd say the same would apply to you then huh? Inhumane jerk
Dave Sleeper
1:17 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I've seen these geese over at the Wawa in Lanoka Harbor. Not only did they buy their hoagies and soft pretzels with Food Stamps, but they left the parking lot in a relativly new Mercedes. I'm just sayin', "Some of my best friends are geese!"
tr
4:39 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
If the Lacey Patch would just help out the Township Comittee by printing USEFUL information about the geese, such as local recipes and how to properly prepare the cadavors so that all the taxpayers can enjoy them, I would bet they would disappear, miraculously!
Forked River Mom
5:03 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
I don't get it. These idiot geese take over our lakes and the citizens can't even enjoy the summers here in Lacey anymore because they pollute the beaches and water so bad with their feces. How is this allowed. Do we really need them? I can care less what the animal rights activists say, they need to go! What is more important? Giving these ridiculous animals a place to take a crap all day or letting our families be potential burrow grounds for growing bacteria from their crap? Ok, look at it this way...A single goose can defecate every 20 minutes (Bowen and Valiela 2004) up to 1.5 pounds of feces each day. So that's 1440 minutes divided by 20 equals 72 times a day per goose. Times that by the 30 geese that live on our lakes (the number is probably higher then that) and that comes to 2160 piles of poop per day on average these disgusting things drop on our beaches. Doesn't seem right that they're literally taking everything over! I honestly saw no one at the 3rd beach last summer because of the geese and bacteria levels were too bad because of them. It's seriously not right. You people are doing nothing to get rid of them, it's a joke!!!!!
VoiceofReason
8:14 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
So why don't you cry about it?
VoiceofReason
8:18 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Move somewhere else, your rant makes NO sense and it so ridiculous. Those lakes have always been gross, with or without the geese. Leave them alone.
JOHNNY Done it
7:06 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The town council get strong armed by non resident tax payers & went with this plan. I said it then & say it again your plan is not going to work Gassem & increase the hunting limits ...We still have the problem.. So do you want to by a beach badge in the stinky lake????
ELAINE
8:01 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
leave the geese alone nothing is going to work the way you think it will silly ways.
Mimi Neuhaus
8:42 pm on Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Storm drains emptying into the lakes are the cause of the pollution
not the geese.
JOHNNY Done it
8:32 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Mimi please take a sample of water(lake water) get it tested post the results .Than that will be proof & fact ,till then we are all assuming & making false statements Fecal coliform , Mean anything?
VoiceofReason
10:32 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Go drink some JOHNNY Done it.
Tom Messina
12:22 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
forked river mom how much pollution runs into the lakes from either you or your kids diapers every year.? buy a clue will you its a bad design that wasted $1 million to make sure all the lawn and field fertilzer as well as road kill and trash runs right into the lakes every time it rains. you and your rug rats are neck deep in miracle gro.
Forked River Mom
9:59 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Tom Messina, you have no right calling my kids names!!!! I go nowhere near the lakes. I enjoy the summers in the privacy of my own back yard in my own pool. I would never step foot in the lakes, however I do know people who rely on the lakes in the summer months and it's just disgusting. Ok, set aside the bacteria levels in the water, that may come from other sources, but look at all the poop laying in the sand from the geese, it's just gross and they need to go!!!
Forked River Mom
10:01 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
And another point...don't blame me because I dispose of my trash the correct way. It's not my fault how the irrigation system works. And by the way, my kids aren't in diapers either. I haven't lived here that long. Take your stupid comments somewhere else.
proud
10:48 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
@ Forked River Mom, some trash can be disposed of correctly, and some can not. Some, no matter how degraded it has become, will exist infinitely.
JOHNNY Done it
11:58 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tom one is a poison the other is waste it would have to take all the road kill in Ocean county to effect the lakes...May be imagine this a 100 or so geese crapping in the lakes all day ..The rest of the research is yours .Figure out how many pounds are produced by on geese each day x the amount of geese spotted in that area...Them be the Facts....
Tom Messina
12:23 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
this story wont be complete until we read about tr shooting some kid by accident.
donald hinman
4:11 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I feed them bread almost every morning. They are one of the most beautiful creatures. I can't believe you people talking about killing them. They aren't hurting anyone.
VoiceofReason
8:18 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Yay!
JOHNNY Done it
8:27 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
I Guess you are the cause ,,Did you know its illegal on a state level & This town has an ordinance Thanks for the admission of guilt & the extra tax dollars to pay for this. Please get educated the words illegal , No And drawing them in here,, Take the bread put some butter & sit down & eat Thinking about what you are doing..
VoiceofReason
10:33 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
JOHNNY Done it - get a hobby...or a job
ELAINE
11:05 am on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
LIVE & LET LIVE STOP WASTING GOOD MONEY ON BAD IDEAS GEESE WILL BE HERE FOREVER GET BUS TO IT OR MOVE.
JOHNNY Done it
8:21 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Remove the cap lock & think before you type....
jabe0312
12:46 pm on Wednesday, February 20, 2013
@voiceofreason parents aer obviously cousins.
VoiceofReason
10:35 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
No actually they "aer" not. Clearly you are an intelligent individual though. Please, criticize me more based on inconclusive information. Opinions are opinions people. Has nothing to do with my parents. Moron.
Project Bluebeam
3:41 am on Thursday, February 21, 2013
I wonder how much fecal coliform johnny done it ate before he commented on here?
JOHNNY Done it
11:49 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
P B & Voice of reason , Easy with the funny mushrooms .& I have a hobby A very well paying job ,Thanks for being concerned ,,Comment using fact , put aside that you are geese lovers . After it rains Run off contains oils ,sludge ,not cause high bacteria count from water fowl waste. Water test don't lie , I don't go swimming in the lakes so I don't ingest the stuff ,I am a avid hunter I help reduce the population the correct way.
JOHNNY Done it
12:01 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
voice of reason I did drink some Johnny done it & passed some bad voice of reason gas.
VoiceofReason
10:55 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
Ahhh a redneck hilbilly hunter. Go figure. Pig.
JOHNNY Done it
7:28 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
To voice of reason a redneck hillbilly hunter cant hit the broad side of a barn I was trained better & properly hunt within the rules I would remove the barn,,,
ELAINE
7:36 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
I LIKE TO USE CAPS WHAT OF IT MIND YOUR BUSINESS NOT MINE .
JOHNNY Done it
11:52 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
You can do what you want..Thats usually a sign of anger or some needing attention, yelling at someone in front of instead of talking , Just wanted you to know...
Dave Sleeper
6:23 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
No it's not. It's a sign that they used capital letters. Life is short. And now, let's get back to the geese!
ELAINE
2:28 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
JOHNNY, THANK YOU FOR THE INFO I ALLREADY NEW I NEED CAPS TO READ WHAT I WRITE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANGER IT HAS TO DO WITH DIEABIETS.
ELAINE
2:34 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
I'M NOT A FOLLOWER I'M ME I DO WHATS GOOD FOR ME PUTER TALK IS B S .
ELAINE
2:36 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
JOHNNY JUST DID THINK WHEN I TOLD YOU MY MIND IS GREAT.
JOHNNY Done it
7:22 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
No ELAINE I didn't think that .Try making the screen bigger under tools this help you see better & not get a headache watching us making our foolish comments .
Robert Yates
6:53 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
@ dave sleeper: loved your posts; still laughing days latter!
Project Bluebeam
10:56 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
yates your days would be better spent learning to spell. johnny done it why dont you and that crazy old coot otto that goes to every town meeting whining about the geese have a lunch date.? do us a favor and record the date for tosh.o so we can all have a laugh watching you two hayseeds piss and moan.as for your elmer fudd hobby its an easy guess we,ll be reading about you shooting some kid with a badly aimed shot. oh and mr wizard try looking up what fertilizer run off does to lakes instead cooking goose poop in your test tube for your "facts" .
proud
11:17 pm on Friday, February 22, 2013
Clearly, coherency and strong spelling skills are amongst your strengths @Project Bleubeam.
JOHNNY Done it
10:32 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
@PB I don't know the older gentlemen who complains about the Geese..2 I get paid to not be a bad shot .The kid your talking about is the one on drugs robbing a house taking some type of weapon hurting our residents (hopefully no one you know) If you look back in history & some civilizations now still hunt not for the sport for food ( you learn this in High school) 3 Some of the people on here are feeding the geese not educated enough to know its illegal & causes a migratory bird to call this home which we don't want also I don't use fertilizer because I also knew its bad for the water shed both are pollution ,one is curable quicker than the other , So please don't leave the subject at hand its about a migratory bird that does not belong here as a year long resident that people are treating like a pet dog....
Project Bluebeam
12:24 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013
proud shouldnt you be in the walmart parking lot dressed up as ben franklin with tea bags hanging from your colonial hat scaring the little kids with your yelling and badly spelled signs?
Project Bluebeam
12:25 am on Saturday, February 23, 2013
maybe youre going as davey crockett this week. lol