Anchorage Daily News
Vol LII, NO.234
Anchorage Alaska, Friday, August 22, 1997
Grape Spray Sours Geese on City's Grass
By Esther Pan
Daily News Reporter
The city has a new weapon in its arsenal against
pesky, poop-dropping Canada geese: a bird repellent spray that smells
like grape bubble gum.
The chemical spray, called "bird repellent
concentrate" and marketed under the name Bird Shield, contains
methylanthranilate, the active ingredient in Concord Grapes.
The spray works by making the treated grass distasteful
to geese.
"It's like eating something extremely bitter
or sour," said Everette Walton of American Pest Management,
the contractor that applies the stuff for the city. "It won’t
hurt you, but you don't want to keep doing it."
Leonard Askham, the scientist from Pullman, Wash,
who developed Bird Shield, got the idea after noticing that geese
didn't land in vineyards where Concord grapes were growing.
After hearing about the product, Anchorage parks
and recreation workers decided to test it. They sprayed two of the
four playing fields at Do La Vega in late June. One gallon of the
chemical mixed with 60 gallons of water is enough to treat an acre.
"You don't have to spray everything. If the
wind blows the scent over an unsprayed field the birds won't land
there either," said Jerry Walton of the city's Parks and Recreation
Department. "I'm pretty dang impressed."
Park's employees had planned to spray 10 times
but stopped after four because the geese left.
The same thing happened at Westchester Lagoon
after three applications. At Jewel Lake, the goose population went
from 200 to about 60, Walton said. The ones that remain have young
and won't leave them.
Bootlegger's Cove was a particular success. There
on the beach at the East End of Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, "you
couldn't drop a dime without hitting goose grease," said Larry
Jones of American Pest Management.
After workers sprayed a 2-acre section of the
beach, the geese picked up and moved to a deserted wooded area a
quarter of a mile away.
So how safe is the stuff? It has been approved
for use by the Environmental Protection Agency, is biodegradable
and breaks down quickly in sunlight. It won’t hurt humans
or mammals, Walton said.
"You could drink it if you wanted to,"
he said. "It tastes kind of like Tabasco sauce but smells real
grapey."
However, the product can be harmful to fish in
concentrated amounts. Therefore use of the spray is limited near
fish bearing water because "it makes them go belly up."
Walton said.
But if it is applied correctly there is no risk
of runoff, Walton said.
A polymer in the spray bonds it to grass like
a coat of latex paint, It lasts for seven to 10 days, even through
rain, or until the grass is mowed.
"It looks like the wax on a car and smells
like grape bubble gum," Jones said.
The product solves a big headache for Walton.
Although other members of the Anchorage Waterfowl Working Group
are dealing with serious safety issues posed by geese, Walton gets
the minor complaints which are mostly about droppings.
"We've gotten calls from Rollerbladers who
slip and fall on the trails because of bird poop," he said.
"People can't put a blanket down on the beach, it's all over
the sports field - especially during molting season, when they can't
fly - there's bird poop everywhere. It's a big nuisance."
Jones said Bird Shield is not a miracle cure,
but only one tool in the city's wider program of bird control, which
includes letting grass grow longer and encouraging people not to
feed the geese.
Walton said the city has spent $6,000 so far on
the treatment. The chemical costs about $45 a gallon and $180 an
acre to apply.
That's a special rate for the city, said Jones,
whose company is the only distributor of Bird Shield and related
products like Crop Shield and Airport Shield.
For homeowners who want a goose free, grape-smelling
lawn, the stuff costs $60 a gallon. |
