'Goose Samaritans' on Poop Patrol

Resident volunteers watching your step

The long-standing problem of goose droppings on Lions Bay Beach is being tackled by a band of local doo-gooders — to everyone's benefit.

Local resident Jon Westcott has even mapped out prime times for goose poop clearing and posted them on social media.

Westcott doesn't claim to be an expert in the subject, and says he was inspired to start his beach clean-up by reading about the beach closures due to high E. coli numbers in the Village Update.

"I have all these memories of being down there with my own kids — and I was regaled with stories from long-time residents when we first moved here in 2011 about how THEIR kids pretty much lived at the beach during the summer. Working to get the beach open for the young families so they may have the same, wonderful experiences the rest of us have had was motivating," he says.

Westcott and his wife Larissa headed down to the beach that first Saturday in July with a pocketful of dog poop bags, and spent over an hour filling the bags.

"Since that Saturday, a bunch of other people have helped out, including Alison and Nicola Dudley, Marcel Jakob, Ruth Simons, Rose Dudley and Noelene Searle Valleau," says Westcott.

He says that he knows others have pitched in. "We were never organized, and there was never a sign up list, so I don't know who else may have helped. It was just individuals pitching in to fix a problem for our community."

Westcott has drawn a parallel between the goose-poop cleanups and the dropping rates of E. coli numbers as measured weekly at the beach. In a recent social media post, he noted that "cleaning the beach is more important than cleaning the grass, from a water quality standpoint."

He says he aims his cleaning efforts as the tide begins to come in. "The geese will have had all of the outgoing tide to soil the beach, so droppings can be removed before the tide comes back in and they dissolve. Cleaning the grass can happen anytime." 

Long-time resident Ruth Simons has also been lending a hand.

"I filled three dog-waste bags today," she said last week, "and there was still more to be had."

Simons says she was inspired by Marcel Jakob who told her others had been helping clear up the area. Since then she's been down to the beach twice, and says she'll return for another pickup when she can.

"Once you become aware of how much poop there is, you can't un-see it."

She notes that the Village doesn't allow dog dropping to be left behind, "so why goose poop?"

"Testing is a precise science and replicating the exact conditions would need to be done for actual proof that the geese are the cause of the increased E.coli numbers," she said, adding that, in any case, neither swimming nor sitting in goose poop is safe or enjoyable.

"I also think we need solutions to help the geese move to an alternative grazing spot."

Westcott believes the clean-ups are helping keep the beach ship-shape.

"Looking at the table in the Village Update, cleaning the beach has had a positively profound effect," he said. " Though it won't impact the E.coli counts in the water, cleaning the droppings won't hurt anything and, at the very least, makes the beach park more inviting. I guess that's really what it comes down to: keeping this special place open so we can hang out there with our family and friends."

The jury is still out on just what causes E. coli counts to rise at local beaches. In July, nine beaches around the lower Mainland were designated 'not suitable for swimming' due to high fecal coliform rates. However, anecdotal evidence shows goose poop tested at local school fields came back negative for fecal coliform. And it's not uncommon for dogs to pick up E. coli after drinking from streams in the North Shore mountains. (A good reason to encourage hikers to sanitize any water they take from local sources before drinking it!)

No one can deny that a poop-free beach is a more enjoyable place to sit and swim. So a wave of our wing to these local doo-gooders for their efforts to make our local beach a pleasant place for everyone.

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