Parents: Goose droppings causing infections in athletes
Relaxed N.J. guidelines could help towns deal with problem
BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent

Maybe the remote control cars aren't working.

Last year, the district purchased two remote control cars to scare Canada geese from the high schools' football fields.

It seems that solution may not be working now that football players' parents say their kids are getting skin infections after coming in contact with goose feces on the Brick Township High School football practice field.

When football practice started in mid-August, Annamarie Rex said, her son Karl sustained a 2-inch-round cut on his knee.

Since cuts and bruises are par for the course in football, Rex said she wasn't all that concerned.

"My son was getting ready for a scrimmage and he asked the trainer to tape his knee because it was bothering him," Rex said. "When the trainer looked at it, he sent him to the emergency room. If you touched the knee it was very hot."

Karl Rex was diagnosed with cellulitis, a bacterial infection under the skin, was treated with intravenous and oral antibiotics, and sent home. Less then 24 hours later, the cut had doubled in size and he was admitted to the hospital for a two-day course of intravenous antibiotics, Annamarie said.

"They couldn't exactly say that the infection was caused by goose feces," she said. "But since this happened, several parents have said the same thing happened to their sons."

"My son is a linebacker," said Victoria Leustek, whose son, Andrew, plays on junior varsity and varsity squads. "His job is to bring people down to the ground. He can be facedown in it at times. His uniforms are covered in it and stained from it."

Both mothers said that the school's practice field is "filthy" and the problem affects not only the football players but other teams as well, including girls field hockey, lacrosse and marching band.

For the players' health and safety, the women want the school district to do something about the goose problem, although they're not sure what.

"You can't hunt on school property and dogs are only a temporary solution because when they're gone the geese come back," Leustek said.

At last Thursday's Board of Education meeting, School Business Administrator Nicholas Puleio said Canadian geese are a problem throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties.

That's why last year, the district purchased for each high school a remote control car - to scare geese away with their noise and movement.

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided to allow state wildlife agencies, airports and property owners more flexibility in handling the resident Canada geese population, including expanding the hunting season and eliminating the need for federal permits to take the birds.

But since hunting on school property isn't a possibility, the district has to look for other methods of bringing the geese population on its grounds under control.

"Geese don't eat fake grass," said board member Daniel Rosa, a supporter of turf fields.

Puleio said that school groundskeepers are aware of the problem and that the administration would address the concerns with the department this week.