"Goosinator" herds geese away from Madison parks

 MADISON -- Madison has worked for years to come up with a plan to encourage geese to stay away from city parks.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">Once again this year, part of that plan includes using a tool that may look ridiculous to most people, but scary to the geese.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">It’s called the Goosinator, and it’s a 28-hundred dollar remote control Styrofoam drone that runs on land or water.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">And it's Madison Park District's most colorful way of keeping geese off soccer fields, and away from people who just don't want to deal with what the birds bring to the table.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"They create a big problem because of you know, their droppings. So you're tip toeing around that.\" said Dottie Schoenke, a cyclist at Madison’s Vilas Park.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"They [geese] basically pass through about a pound a day.\" said Russ Hefty, a conservation resource supervisor with Madison Park District.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">The pound of droppings each goose leaves behind is more than just gross, it can carry diseases and force the park district to shut down beaches because of contaminated water.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">So the Goosinator is just one part of bigger plan to keep the geese away from fields and lakes.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">\"Between this and the other things we've done their parks are more usable.” Hefty said.

10.0pt;font-family:\"Microsoft Sans Serif\",\"sans-serif\"\">All it takes is a few minutes for the Goosinator to strike fear into a flock, and it's off to the next park.