Too Many Honkers Cause Traffic Jam

Police on horseback have been forced to conduct daily Canada geese roundups because of a multiplying gaggle that is stopping traffic and munching parched lawns.

“They stop here in the course of their migration and people feed them, so they stay instead of moving on,” said Officer Dan Bates of the geese, which are a protected species. “At first people liked it, but now we’re getting a lot of complaints.”

Kathleen Sullivan said the geese in Stoneham, a town of 23,000 about 10 miles north of Boston, are also keeping residents awake at night with their honking.

The flock has raised the bacteria count at Spot Pond Reservoir, which supplies drinking water for Stoneham and neighboring towns.

“That’s the main problem,” said Sullivan, a member of the Board of Selectmen. “The more they multiply, the more excretions go in our water.”

Town officials say the goose population has grown from a handful when the birds arrived 10 years ago to about 650 birds.

Until recently, residents said, the geese usually stayed on a patch of grass just north of the reservoir. But when hot weather parched grass in late June and early July, the geese began searching for greener pastures.

“They eat the grass in one place, and when there’s no more, they move down the street a little farther,” Bates said.

As they forage, the geese have been stopping traffic at the intersection of South Street and Route 28, one of the town’s busiest arteries. The problem became so acute that officers on horseback each day herd the geese away.