How to get geese to make a swan song

December 9, 1982

Pat Lucas, grounds superintendent at the Innis Arden Golf Club, had to do something to fight the Canada geese that were wrecking his course. He settled on the scarecrow theory - using swans, the only birds Canada geese fear.

Mr. Lucas said the problem with Canada geese worsened when they stopped migrating annually, having found the ''good life'' here. Problems resulted from the geese's noise, droppings, and feathers, which can clog water pipes. So Lucas started the Sentinel Swans Company, which provides fake swans to anyone who has had foul play with geese. For $130, the buyer gets a fake swan family and an instruction guide.