By Caragin Elsbury, Maddison Judge, Hadleigh Smith  

Greenwood High School is invaded by Canadian geese every spring. 

Mr. Jerrod Watson, PE teacher, sees a group of geese every spring come onto school grounds. They leave a mess everywhere they go.

 “The geese can be a problem, especially if they are aggressive. Also, poop on the sidewalks certainly isn’t ideal. We have geese here like a lot of other places do.  Again, as long as they don’t become aggressive they really are not a huge problem except for the poop,” Mr. Watson said.

Sophomore Hailey Hargraves has been scared by the geese on school grounds several times. She has to come face to face with the geese on a daily basis. She sees that most students have to walk or run different ways in order not to come into contact with the geese. 

 “I believe that Canadian geese are extremely terrifying and harmful. They attack random pedestrians for simply existing. The geese on school property scare me and other students into avoiding them. They love to stay by the tree where the buses park at the end of the day. My 7th period is English, so when I look outside, I see them. I see the geese at least two times a day. Sometimes, they are by their tree while I am walking into the school from the bus lot,” Hargraves said.

Mr. Craig Bruns, assistant principal, is worried about the students and faculty. If provoked, the Canadian geese get angry. The geese tend to fly everywhere. They hang out on top of the building maybe laying on top of a car or two. There is always the potential of them damaging the school property or hurting a student.

 “I don’t know much about them. In terms of wildlife, I just get concerned if they pose a danger or risk to anyone on our school property or any of our physical structures or vehicles. I see them quite frequently on our school property,” Mr. Bruns said.

Freshman Elyse Theoharis has strong opinions on Canadian geese in general. They have attacked her in the past. 

“I strongly dislike geese. I do not like that geese are on school property. I think we should get rid of all of them. I see geese every day on school property. In 4th grade, I was getting out of the car when a goose attacked me. I have been terrified since,” Theoharis said.

Hargraves during freshman year had to face the geese for a class. This personal experience left her wary of the geese. The students were put into a position where they had to find the geese just to get them off of school property. Unfortunately, the plan ended up failing, and they had to run away.

“Last year, we took a nature walk in Biology. My teacher had students bring nets outside and be the geese catchers. Once we got outside, the students attempted to gather the geese, which did not work very well. We all ended up running away because the geese were relentless,” Hargraves said.

Mr. Watson advises students not to provoke the geese into attacking. This puts the students and the Canadian geese in danger.

“You just have to look at them square in the beak and let them know you have no fear of them. If they know you are the dominant species, they will leave you alone. I see them every day, every year in the springtime. I have no personal experiences with them. They know better.  They usually attack people who provoke them or who may appear vulnerable. I don’t provoke them, and I am not vulnerable,” he said.