OXNARD : Officials Hope Pepper Drives Off Coots

The saga of the coots continues at the River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard.

On Friday, officials tried the latest in a series of attempts to get rid of the small black birds--spraying the birds’ favorite hangouts with a potent form of chili pepper.

Although officials are using the pepper on a trial basis in an effort to repel the birds, one employee at the city-owned golf course said the coots appeared to be eating the liquid concoction.

The birds migrate to the golf course from October to April, leaving their droppings on the greens and angering some golfers. Past attempts at getting rid of the coots have included setting off firecrackers and having people try to shoo the birds away.

In January, 1991, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned the golf course to remove fishing lines that its workers had placed across the course ponds as a barrier, or replace them with thicker lines, because the birds were getting mangled.

Golf course management complied by putting thicker fishing line and flags, but the birds remained.

A recent city effort to bring in a group of hunters to shoot the birds raised the ire of animal rights activists and residents who live near the golf course. City officials had a permit from the fish and wildlife service that allowed the city to shoot about 400 coots.

The chili-pepper solution was proposed Thursday by a group that includes officials from the city of Oxnard, the wildlife service and Oxnard residents.

If the chili pepper proves unsuccessful, the management at the golf course will not give up trying, said Mark Sipes, head of golf operations at River Ridge.

“They’ve been here since we opened seven years ago,” Sipes said. “We’ve tried a lot of things. We’ve netted them. We don’t want to shoot them. We’re trying to experiment with as many solutions as we can.”