When walking around the campus pond or practicing at the soccer fields, players and fans may find a strange sight: swans floating in the pond and coyotes under the bleachers. 

These are not real swans and coyotes— they are decoys set up to scare geese away from the soccer fields. 

The head coach of the EIU women’s soccer team, Dirk Bennett, had been dealing with geese using the soccer fields as their personal restroom during the summer. 

“It became so pronounced that it was a real problem,” he said. “We couldn’t actually train or play out there without some maintenance first.” 

Bennett first attempted to keep the geese out by putting up a fence around New Lakeside Soccer Field. It worked.  

But then, the geese started flying over the fence to the practice soccer field. So, he decided to try a different approach. 

“You would have found me last year out there with poles and mannequins in my hands just trying to wave them out of [Lakeside], and yell at them and scare them,” Bennett said. “It was quite a sight.” 

After using this solution, Bennett researched for better options on the internet and found that decoys could be his “best friend.” 

So in August, he decided to set up a couple of decoy swans in the campus pond. 

“Supposedly, swans are natural enemies of geese, and swans travel in pairs,” Bennett said. 

However, the decoy swans did not solve the geese problem. 

“Honestly, I think [the geese have] made friends with the swans,” he said. “I don’t think they give a crap about [the swans].” 

Bennett decided to try a different kind of decoy: coyotes. He said that has been keeping them away.

He recounted the first day that the decoy coyote was put out on the field. 

“I came back the next day, and it was in the pond,” he said. “I think some crazy students had a good night and did that. But I just say [to students], if you see the animals out, just try to keep your hands off them and take care of them for us.” 

The decoy coyotes have become a staple of the field. 

“We sort of joked around that they’re mascots now, but it is 100% goose prevention,” said Bennett. 

To enact the decoy plan, Bennett bought the fake animals and then asked the grounds staff to help him place them.  

In order to maintain the effectiveness of the decoys, they must be moved around regularly, said Bennett.  

“Animals aren’t that dumb. So they recognize if something’s standing still for a long time, it’s probably not real. So [moving the fake animals] gives it a sense of realism,” he said.  

Bennett did note that the decoys may not be the only reason that geese have been staying away from the soccer fields.  

“The geese have probably migrated this season now, so that might be why they are gone,” he said. “But I think as long as we have [the decoys] and they are still good to use, we will probably try to use them.” 

Other than the geese using the soccer fields as a restroom, Bennett has no problem with them. 

“There is nothing wrong with them other than the fact that we just need our field to stay in good shape,” he said. “Not trying to hurt the animals or anything, just trying to keep them out of the spaces that we use a lot.” 

                                                                                                             Essie Newton can be reached at 581-2812 or at eanewton@eiu.edu