Canadian geese held at bay

KAMLOOPS – Juno, along with handler Mike Ritcey, are back patrolling the fields of McArthur Island Park a couple times a day to make sure Canadian geese do not take up residence at the busy fields.

The city started using the dog chasing service a couple years ago as a way to keep Canadian geese off the busy fields at the island park. By harmlessly encouraging the geese to settle in elsewhere it is easy to keep the fields intact and clean, which is essential to the Tournament Capital. The hope is to control the population this way before the birds are officially deemed a nuisance.

Juno patrols the fields several times each day at the beginning and end of summer, when there are more geese in the city, and less regularly during other times of the year.

The geese have come to know the truck Juno arrives in and get skittish before she is even out of the vehicle. They tend to take off as soon as Juno heads in their direction.

To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.