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Geese Terror Cutouts: The New Fat Lady Butt?

March 25, 2008

A keen observer of ripples and perturbations in the fabric of civilization, our friend Steve Crandall noticed Geese-Dog cutouts with bandanas appearing in suburban NJ. Steve writes “About a month ago some dog silhouettes popped up around the ponds here. The geese didn’t care until someone put red and white bandanas on them. Most of the geese are gone! Maybe they see them better when they fly over?”

We’ve also noticed black dog cutouts turning up along the road in public parks, near landscaped shores — wherever people want the geese to leave without blasting them from the skies.

It reminds us of the Fat Lady Butt craze of the early 1990s, which blanketed a multi-state part of the Midwest. Perhaps not just garden ornamentation, but also designed to frighten away pests?

The eye-catching dog bandana, seen in both red and white, does seem key to the effect. Geese sense that such a pampered pooch might delight in dragging them by a wing, squawking, up the community strollway. But eventually they’ll figure it out, just like the dog’s deterrence predecessor, the floating fake swan.

Our suggestion, for geese terror longevity, is to encourage the proliferation of cutouts, only with more variety in the silhouettes (and bright color accessories). A Paul Bunyan waving a bright red ax. A crocodile with a baby’s leg. The flag-raising at Iwo Jima also comes to mind. Patriotism and pest suppression on a backyard Mt. Suribachi, where no goose would linger.

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