Atlanta City Council revives plot to outsmart geese

Canada geese. They’re loud. They’re ornery. They’re pooping in our water supply!

• Do not fear. City Hall is here.

Driving the news: Tuesday, the Atlanta City Council’s utilities committee gave its blessing to renew the $157,550 contract with a company that specializes in humanely shooing away geese.

Catch up quick: For years, large populations of Canada geese have been squatting at Atlanta’s water facilities.

In 2013, the department of watershed management's summer interns proposed installing 50 decoys to ward off the geese.

• Sorry, interns, but the geese saw through that trick.

Next, the city hired Sandy Springs-based Atlanta Animal Eviction Inc. to visit facilities several times each week.

• The geese police switched up the times they'd visit once the birds learned the schedule, deputy commissioner Quinton Fletcher told the committee.

The anti-geese game plan: A spokesperson for Mayor Andre Dickens says the contractor uses “non-lethal methods“ to remove geese. “Once the geese are secured, they are released into their natural habitat 50 miles from our facilities,” the spokesperson said.

Of note: Geese can fly back.

What they’re saying: “What's good for the goose is good for the gander,” council member Dustin Hillis said before moving to approve the contract renewal.