Cedar Rapids’ ‘FIDO’ goose-chasing device not working as expected

CEDAR RAPIDS - A gadget meant to scare geese away from the McGrath Amphitheatre in Cedar Rapids is working, but not quite as well as expected.

Parks workers introduced FIDO, which stands for 'Fowl Intercept and Dispersal Office,” in the spring. The orange-colored, remote-controlled device shaped like a dog was expected to chase the messy geese away from the amphitheater stage and keep them away.

But Daniel Gibbins, Cedar Rapids Parks Superintendent, said while the six devices, built by volunteers, did succeed in scaring geese, as soon as the controllers left with the devices the geese would return.

'What we had hoped was after we chased them a lot and scared them off of a site, the amphitheater in particular, the geese would learn that's not a good place to be because there's an orange thing that will chase us. What we found is that didn't really happen,” Gibbins said.

Gibbins said the FIDO devices did seem to do better when used on golf courses or parks away from the river. But the McGrath Amphitheatre on the banks of the Cedar River is apparently too tempting a location for the geese. So while they will leave the immediate area when chased, they return as soon as the tormentors leave.

The city parks superintendent said the city will continue to use FIDO. But they won't be able to use it as the one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of messy geese.

Gibbins said one new idea he might try next year is to recruit volunteers who are already walking along the riverbank for exercise and see if they would chase the geese a bit to keep them moving.

'To scare them off, they would physically have to chase them because the geese get used to people and will watch them walk by. They would have to physically chase them and run them off,” Gibbins said.

Gibbins said the city will keep trying other methods to control the population of geese within city limits. Next June, there are plans for another goose roundup where the Iowa Department of Natural Resources assists the city is capturing geese and transporting them to remote lakes away from city park areas.

In 19 years, they've hauled away more than 6,400 geese in the relocation program. However, many of those adult geese return and relocation hasn't seemed to make a big dent in the overpopulation in the city.

The city has tried other methods such as making it illegal to feed geese and playing recorded distress calls around the amphitheater stage.

Gibbins said those methods work to a point. But nothing appears to be a permanent solution, including the FIDO devices rolled out as goose chasers this year.