Eight geese have taken over a sports ground in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin, leading to calls for the gaggle to be culled.
Volunteers have spent hours picking up the poop left by the geese at Watson Park, with some sports games having to be relocated.
"There can be bacteria in the droppings. And it is quite a volume at times, and that's the real problem. It's not just a small amount, it can be quite a lot," says Dunedin City Council parks operations manager Hamish Black.
Many in the community are fed up, and now the city council's ready to cull the geese to solve the problem.
A Taieri farm has offered to take the birds, which the group hope to lure with bread and catch in nets.
"Let's hope that the best case scenario does prevail and that this local community group can capture the geese - after hopefully not too much of a wild goose chase - and
relocate them," Chalmers community board chairman Steve Walker says.
The only concern is they may simply fly straight back into town.
"There is the option of trying to look at clipping their wings. But even that may not permanently resolve the problem of them wanting to fly back in," Mr Black says.
The group have until Sunday to try and move the geese off Watson Park or the occupation could come to a quick and sudden end.
Newshub.
