UPDATE: Chase, the missing dog, has been returned, according to head custodian Willie de Hostos. One day after this story originally appeared on April 30, the dog was returned to Miller-Driscoll.
ORIGINAL STORY: There’s a sign at the playground at Miller-Driscoll School that states, “No Dogs Allowed on School Grounds–Dog Waste Transmits Diseases.”
Too bad the geese can’t read.
Long a problem at the school, the birds’ penchant for spending time on the Miller-Driscoll fields has created a foul fowl waste issue. One parent brought it to the attention of the school’s PTA executive board that another school in Wilton–Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School–had gotten dog decoys to scare away the geese.
“I went over to Fatima and talked to one of the women in the office. She said they really work and they haven’t seen one goose since they put them in. So we said we had to get them for Miller-Driscoll since it’s such a huge problem here,” Susan Price, president of the M-D PTA says.
After doing some digging and talking with school facilities manager John Murphy, Price learned that because the land on which the school sits is town-owned, Wilton’s Parks & Rec department is responsible for its upkeep.
“[Parks & Rec director] Steve Pierce gave us a history of things they tried in the past that didn’t work. They might have worked for a period of time, but were never long-lasting solutions,” Price explained, adding that one of the methods was for the custodians to blow an air horn to scare the geese away when kids weren’t around. “That worked for a bit but then the geese would come back.”
The PTA offered the to foot the bill for the decoy solution. “We said, ‘If we pay for them, can we try them?’ and they said okay,” Price recounts. They bought the decoys from Watchdog Goose Patrol.
Made out of light-weight, weather-resistant plastic and attached to stakes, the decoys swing in the wind, to ‘trick’ the geese into thinking they’re live dogs. “You’re supposed to move them every few days to make them more effective.”
Lo and behold, the canine copies seem to be working, which is something that makes Price and others at Miller-Driscoll very excited. What’s more, they were a relative inexpensive investment–they purchased a five-pack for a little more than $225.
The funds came out of the miscellaneous donation category from the PTA’s ‘Giving Tree’ budget. “We usually use it to ask the gym teachers, art teachers and music teachers if they need anything because it benefits all the kids. We used it for the decoys–the gym teachers are thrilled,” she adds, especially now that warmer weather means gym classes are often held outside.
The school custodians were happy to move the decoys around the property as frequently as needed, especially since they noticed that there’s been less goose poop to clean from the carpets–something not only important for keeping the school clean but also more sanitary.
The only disappointment is that one of the five decoys has already disappeared, only two weeks after they were installed. “I assumed it had blown away, but they don’t know if someone might have taken it.”
M-D’s head custodian Willie de Hostos was also sad that the dog decoy disappeared. He had actually named it “Chase” because his job was to chase the geese away. “He did his job from the day I put him out there; I have not seen not one goose since. If anyone sees Chase, please return him home,” he wrote in an email to GMW.com.
The Miller-Driscoll PTA giving tree is still open and accepting donations through tomorrow, Friday, May 1. Visit the giving tree webpage for ideas on how to help M-D.