A wild goose chase

Photo by Johnathon Henninger, Special to the Record-Journal

Alan Kendrix of North Haven sits in his kayak with one of this two Kerry Blue Terriers, Kelly, on the pond at the Mixville Recreational Area in Cheshire.

Why did the goose cross Mixville Pond? Because a man ordered his dog to "Go get ‘im!"

The town has hired North Haven resident Alan Kendrix , the owner of No Geese Today, to remove the Canada geese from the beach and recreational areas of the Mixville Recreation Area on Notch Road. He's been going to the park for about 25 days with his two dogs, Kelly and Molly, Kerry blue terriers. He sits in a motorized kayak with one of his dogs between his legs. Both dogs wear lifejackets, and when Kendrix sees geese, he pulls the kayak over and lets a dog chase them.

"It's working," he said.

The town has had a problem with goose droppings at the park for the past half dozen years, said Town Manager Michael Milone.

Kendrix goes to the park, sometimes twice a day, he said. When he started going there, he would spend an entire day in order to get the geese to move to the smaller pond, farthest away from the beach.

"I have to be just as persistent as the geese are persistent," Kendrix said. "They were here before I got here." Now, when he goes, he can spend as little as a half hour. When the geese see his car pull up, they automatically start making their way to the smaller pond, he said.

Kendrix said he has trained the geese to do what he wants, much as he has trained his dogs. The dogs do not bark at or bite the geese, they just chase them. Kendrix does not believe in euthanizing geese, he said.

"I consider myself to be a conservationist," he said.

Before using Kendrix's services, the town considered working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which would have captured and euthanized the geese if its other methods had failed. Milone and Bob Ceccolini, the town's parks and recreation director, received several phone calls from people in the community opposed to killing the geese, Milone said.

Kendrix's plan is to train the geese to stay on the pond farthest from the recreational area. This will take repetition, which means Kendrix will have to go the pond repeatedly.

He said he has been using the methods on the Yale University Golf Course in New Haven and Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield for six years, and at Lyman Orchards Apple Barrel Shop and Fusco's Armstrong Park in Shelton, for several years.

Kendrix said he hopes to continue working with the town. He is providing the town his services free of charge for one month. After that, the town can decide if it wants to enter into a contract with him. He would charge $1,100 per month, Milone said.

However, the town could cancel the contract by giving him 30 days notice, Kendrix said.
Canada geese will always be present at Mixville Recreation Area, Kendrix said, but he is committed to "mitigating the conflict between humans and geese."