Problems with Canada geese at the Fairwinds Golf Course in Nanoose Bay have been largely dealt with, thanks to the efforts of Eddie the Eagle and his handler, Anne Sison.
Eddie, a 14-year-old bald eagle, and Sison have worked at the golf course for the past four years scaring off the geese that had been getting in the way of golfers and dropping large amounts of feces on the fields.
Sison said Eddie and her border collie Murphy work in tandem to deal with the geese that had been an issue at Fairwinds for some time.
Murphy scares the large birds into the air and when they see Eddie circling overhead, they usually depart from the area quickly, in fear they will become his next meal.
Sison, a professional falconer, said she was 18 years-old when she bought Eddie from a licensed dealer in Ontario when he was just 10 months old.
"When Eddie is on patrol over the golf course, the geese always leave the area immediately once they have spotted him," she said.
"Bald eagles can live to be 30 years old or more so I'm hoping he'll be with me for awhile yet. He's probably my best friend and he has helped me get through some life crises over the years that I have had him."
Sison said she became interested in birds of prey when she was just a child in Ontario and found an injured owl near her parents' cabin and nursed it back to health.
She apprenticed under a falconer for a number of years and, after completing studies at the Canadian School of Traditional Falconry, she was then eligible to attain permits and licenses to own and care for her own birds.
Because of her expertise and success with geese control, she has been interviewed by major radio stations, television shows and national newspapers to speak about how she has created the most effective and humane programs for geese control.
The methods she has developed have been proven over and over again successfully.
At one point, Sison had 11 birds, including three bald eagles and a number of falcons and owls, and worked with them to deal with bird problems at Toronto's Pearson International Airport and landfills in the area.
But when she decided to move to Vancouver Island, she kept only Eddie and the rest of her birds ended up with other falconers.
"Eddie is very special to me and we've formed quite a bond over the years," she said.
