Some Jersey City residents say geese droppings are creating "an absolute health hazard"
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Jersey City residents are stepping into an unpleasant problem -- geese droppings all over public spaces and sidewalks.
"The geese have invaded like I've never seen before," Jersey City resident David Krell said.
Thirty years living in Jersey City, and Krell says the geese have gotten out of hand.
"They're defecating all over the place," he told CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis.
Krell snapped photos over the weekend of the mess left behind in Newport from Elephant Park to the sidewalks near the water. There, CBS2 saw plenty of geese congregating and even someone feeding them.
"I see people walking their dogs, walking baby carriages, jogging, walking themselves to the PATH train. That means they're tracking this stuff into their buildings," Krell said. "This is not a nuisance. This is an absolute health hazard."
"Since the hotter months are now coming, I've noticed a lot more geese poop and definitely my dog here is getting into it," Jersey City resident Jared Smith said.
Paul Scammacca owns Birds Beware, a business that offers humane bird control and removal.
"In the years that we've been doing geese control, I've definitely noticed an increase every year," he said.
He says weather plays a part in seeing more geese. Mild winters mean fewer are migrating. They're also a protected bird and cannot be harmed.
"The only thing that you can do to try to control the population is legally, you can addle the eggs, which is a process to treat the egg so they are non-viable and they don't hatch," Scammacca said.
Krell hopes something is done in Jersey City to help curb the problem.
"You said you reached out to the city. What was the city's response?" DeAngelis asked.
"That this is private property and it's the landlord's issue to take care of," Krell said.
Earlier Tuesday, a worker was cleaning up the park. Krell hopes it lasts.
"Is this going to happen all summer? Is there going to be someone out here every single day cleaning this stuff up?" he said.
For starters, the expert CBS2 spoke to said you should not feed the geese, arguing if you give them a food source, they're going to stick around.
CBS2 reached out to the city and the property owner to find out what more is being done, but have not yet heard back.