It was never completely gone, but now it is all the more present in the outdoor pools: the Egyptian goose.

An animal that made headlines and months of debates in Frankfurt half a decade ago, including calls for the “pests” to be shot down and counter-arguments from animal rights activists.

They gather in their hundreds around the pond on the Rebstock site.

But they also feel good again in the city's outdoor pools, because unlike many bodies of water in nature, they are not threatened by drying out.

Daniel Meuren

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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For Hans Ikenberg, who observed and photographed two families of geese bathing undisturbed in the Eschersheim outdoor pool, one thing is certain: "The animals should be shot down immediately after the end of the bathing time or eliminated with poison.

Alternatively, the bath would have to be closed.” Ikenberg had already fought the birds in 2015 and 2016 and had worked with others to ensure that Egyptian geese in the Brentanobad were released for shooting.

After half a dozen had been killed, the rest of the Egyptian geese withdrew.

According to his own account, Ikenberg even brought the public prosecutor's office into play because of "endangerment to public health".

The poop is a lot of work

Now the threat of geese and city seems to have been forgotten, at least the Egyptian goose has spread again.

"Of course, the little animals gave their excrements again and again on this occasion," says Ikenberg about the walks of the waterfowl over the Eschersheim lawns.

“Egyptian geese are at least as out of place in a swimming pool as rats.

In addition to the disgusting nature of the excretions, there is a considerable health risk here due to the massive colonization of germs.

After the experiences with the emergence of the corona pandemic, special vigilance is required.”

At least the bathing establishments take Ikenberg's complaint seriously.

Managing Director Boris Zielinski confirms the impression that the Egyptian geese have become a problem again.

"They are a burden for our employees, not only in the bathing establishment," he says.

"Our people are also very busy getting rid of the feces both inside and outside the pools."

"Beyond that, our hands are tied, and I think it would be important if the problem were discussed at a higher level at state level." After all, other municipalities are also gaining the same experience as Frankfurt.

In principle, it is about weighing animal welfare against the well-being of humans.

The Egyptian goose is an invasive species that was probably imported to Europe as an ornamental bird for animal parks in the 18th century. It does not belong in the local habitat and changes the environment, for example displacing other waterfowl.

Not only does it cause trouble in the baths, but also in the East Park, for example.

Years ago, environmental department head Rosemarie Heilig (Die Grünen) categorically ruled out shooting at them because of the dangers for homeless people who might be sleeping in the countryside.

After a process known in the department as "goose monitoring", fences with privacy screens were finally erected.

They should block geese's view of the water and thus prevent them from heading for it.

Egyptian geese need proximity to bodies of water to feel safe.

There they can flee from their enemies on land, they also nest there.

Hunting season doesn't bring much

"According to our investigations, which, however, only referred to the Ostpark, no significant increase in the number of geese is known," says the environmental department, which suspects a simple reason for the Egyptian geese's urge to go to the open-air pools: the meadows there are even greener and therefore more inviting for the birds than elsewhere.

Before that, the situation in the baths had also eased after a number of hunts in the winter.

The fact that hunters wore the lifeguards' clothes helped, which in turn earned the pool staff respect.

But now the bathing establishments have found that the Egyptian geese have shed their last shyness.

"They are hardly bothered by people anymore, they don't just go into almost deserted pools and they don't just fly away so easily when you startle them," says CEO Zielinski.

In fact, the lifeguards have difficulty driving the animals out of the water.

Zielinski does not want to spread hysteria and speculate about health risks.

"But I certainly don't want to see children picking up the poop either."

According to Zielinski, the permission to shoot the birds only helps to a limited extent: “Hunting times are limited to the winter until the end of January.

In Eschersheim we didn't have any Egyptian geese in January.

They didn't come until March or April.” It's annoying when animals don't pay attention to the opening hours of the swimming pools or the rules of the hunting season.