Duck, duck, goose goose, goose, goose Vancouver's done playing games with bird that's taken over its parks

In Vancouver, it's geese who reign over the green space in town.

Thousands of the birds and counting waddle as they please through the city's oceanfront parks, leaving an impressive trail of feathers and excrement in their wake. They foulpublic swimming pools, gobble young grass fromfreshly seeded fields,dig holes around water sprinklers and nip at passersby who get too close during mating season.

The Vancouver Park Board, by its own admission, cannotkeep up.

"It is a constant challenge for the trades and operations staff," it said in a statement.

The board announced on Wednesday it is officially enlisting the public in its effort, asking for help to control the growing population of 3,500 geese. Staff are developing a Canada Geese Management Planto find and remove nests, sterilize existingeggs and reinforce a ban on feeding geese.

To sterilize eggs, the City of Vancouver uses a technique called egg addling. Eggs can be shaken, frozen or covered in oil soon after they arelaid, according to a2016 report.Once the eggs are sterilized, they're placed back in nests to reduce the chances of the goose laying more. (Ifeggs are removed from the nests, the birds simply lay more to replace them.)

The board said Wednesday thepractice has been in place since the 1990s and is approved by organizations including the B.C. SPCA and PETA.

But urban geese have caught on. They now try to hide their nests, laying their eggsaway from parks and aroundprivate homes.

The board is asking the public to report goose nests on their property so staff can respond.

WATCH |Why are there so many geese in Metro Vancouver?

Why are there so many geese in Metro Vancouver?

4 years ago

Duration 2:31

Urban Biodiversity Planner Jennifer Rae Pierce explains why geese are so prevalent in Metro Vancouver... and why they poop so much.

Geese thrive in coastal city

Geese flourish in Vancouver as the city's parks provide an ideal habitat with no natural predators. The birdswere re-introduced to the area in the 1970s,to boost the population for hunting and consumption purposes.

Humans took to feeding the brown-and-black feathered birds regularly, which has encouragedthem to gather in high-traffic areas and lay more than one clutch of eight eggs per season a reproductive rate that wouldn't be possibleif people weren't supplementing their diets.

"In nature, without food from humans, this wouldn't happen," the statement read.

The other problem with all that feeding, the board said, is the sheer amount of waste that follows. Canada geese produce a disproportionate amount of poop for their size and dietbecause they don't have a very efficient digestive system, compared to similar species.

"Wedding venues in parks and gardens struggle with keeping the areas clean of goose droppings, as do water parks," the board said.

Officials said the city needs to triple the number of eggsit addlesin order to have an effect on the size of the goose population.