Keep Hannah Park Goose Free!

Great news!

Great news! Thanks to a donation to the Township from a local resident, Muskoka Goose Patrol is back on patrol at Hannah Park. While I believe this is something the Township should be providing, I am thrilled that we will have a clean place to swim this summer! 

Update #2

New information today. The Township has spent $80,000 on lobbying the provincial government to lower OPP costs. If they can afford to do this, surely they can come up with $3600. Also, the Township hired Muskoka Goose Patrol for the last two weeks of last summer and were fully aware of the cost before starting services this summer. They had a contract with Muskoka Goose Patrol until September of this year and broke it. Muskoka Goose Patrol acknowledges that the first year of using them is the most expensive and labour intensive and that in future years they would not need to visit as often. For example, they patrol Kirby's Beach in Bracebridge and only have to go once a week now. They keep detailed logs of how many geese were there etc and also clean up any mess that was created by the geese between visits. This service is a safe/chemical free way to keep the beach and park area clean. Please keep emailing councillors and sharing this petition with friends! Here is the link if you want to share on Facebook or email to others who are not on Facebook. 

https://www.petitions24.com/keep_hannah_park_goose_free

Update

I have received a response from Mayor Furniss stating that the Township has exhausted their budget for goose deterrents for this season. I asked if this meant that there was nothing left now that swimming lessons are about to start and the beach is actually going to be used. He said yes and that staff are not to go over their budgets wherever possible and that in order to receive more funding Council would have to approve cuts to other programs/services or taxes would have to be raised. He said that the cost of Muskoka Goose Patrol is approximately $1800 per month. So, to keep the beach and park area goose free for the remainder of the summer would cost approximately $3600. I don't feel that this is a huge amount of money for the Township to come up with (perhaps by diverting funds from the barely used Information Centre?). So, if you haven't already, please email our local councillors asking them to resume using Muskoka Goose Patrol to keep our beautiful Hannah Park clean. Here is the link to the Township website where you will find email addresses for councillors and the mayor. 

http://www.muskokalakes.ca/node/33

Thanks for all of your support, let's work together to keep Hannah Park clean for everyone to enjoy this summer! 

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