Honk! Geese stop traffic, leave droppings in Brownsburg
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (WISH) — A neighborhood in Hendricks County is experiencing a bit of a geese problem.
The geese are leaving waste everywhere, traffic is a mess, and neighbors are not happy with their current situation.
The neighborhood has several ponds throughout it, which means there is a lot of goose traffic.
Geese are pretty much around every corner in the Austin Meadows neighborhood, swimming in one of the few ponds, hanging out in someone’s yard or traveling between the two, which means they’re crossing over the roads.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve stood here and seen them try to go across the road,” Dan Patterson said. “I’ve seen traffic backed up from here to the railroad tracks down there waiting for geese to cross the road.”
People aren’t always the most patient, leading to some issues for neighbors.
“There will be, like, so many geese walking across the road, and then just, like, people honking all the time,” Megan Heyne said. “Like, it will start at, like 5 a.m., and people are just like ‘Beep!’ And I’m just like, ‘Ugh!’”
As to why there are so many geese in the area, some neighbors are saying it’s because of people feeding the geese.
“I mean, I have kids, so they love them,” Heyne said. “They, like, come out here and they want to feed them and stuff and go visit them.”
Some people put up fences and use fireworks, and one man who wouldn’t go on camera even told News 8 he’ll purposely hit geese with his car when he goes down the road.
“I think that is insane!” Heyne said. “My grandpa says if you’re in that much of a hurry, leave sooner. Like, I would never be so late that I’d have to kill an innocent animal.”
Some neighbors are for more aggressive methods
“They might beep the horn at them, but it doesn’t make a difference,” Patterson said. “They just take their good, sweet time. Now … if you don’t stop, you just kind of nudge into them, they will get out of your way.”
But, something everyone can agree with is how terrible it is to walk down the sidewalks. They’re absolutely covered in droppings, especially near the ponds and that’s something not a lot of people want to deal with.
“I spent 45 minutes to an hour just picking it up around the house today,” Patterson said. “I don’t care what they do. Just get rid of them. Get them out of here somehow or get them down to a manageable number. Because, like I said, every year, they get more and more and more.”
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources said people should not feed geese and beware of goose poop because it can contain E. coli and salmonella bacteria.