Hatching a strategy to control area geese Their population explosion has spread filth and damage. A federal agency is soliciting comments on possible action.

SOUTHAMPTON — From the waterways they rise like an invading army, hunting for food and places to nest, and their numbers are soaring.

An estimated 300 Canada geese have taken up residence at LeisureTowne, an over-55 community in Southampton, manager Karen J. Mesler said. With all the water in the Burlington County development, "it's perfect for them," she said.

Perfect for them, a headache for everybody else.

"All they do is eat and poop," said Doris Stockdale, a LeisureTowne resident for 27 years. She put a fence around her backyard, but the hungry birds trampled it.

Across the Philadelphia region, geese are dirtying golf courses, school athletic fields, and the grassy swards of corporate parks.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is seeking public comment on solutions to the problem, estimates that 85,000 Canada geese have settled in New Jersey, up from 28,000 a decade ago. The service is in charge of enforcing laws on geese, which are protected by a migratory-fowl treaty with Canada.

At LeisureTowne, they leave so much excrement that several residents have slipped on it, breaking a wrist, an arm, an ankle, or even a few ribs, residents said.

"The current management regime is not working well," said Chris Tollefson, a spokesman for the wildlife service in Washington. "We're seeing unsustainable growth. The population needs to be reduced to levels that aren't going to damage the habitat."

How to do that is the question.

To get answers, federal officials have been presenting alternatives at meetings throughout the region, including one in Mount Holly this month. After the comment period closes Thursday, Fish and Wildlife Service officials will review the public's input. Tollefson said a decision might come by fall.

Now, three types of federal permits - for what are called addling, round-up and hunting  are designed to control the population of resident Canada geese.

For 2001, the most permits issued in New Jersey - 212 - were for egg addling, said Diane Pence, chief of the migratory-bird division for the federal service's Northeast region. Permit holders - state agencies, residents' groups, individuals and others - are allowed to interfere with the development of a goose egg so it won't produce a chick.

The usual method is shaking the egg while the mother goose is away and returning it to the nest. Destroying the eggs would do no good; the goose would simply produce more.