The geese are back. Or were they ever really gone? This question is a tricky one, due to the terms of Bee the Border Collie’s contract.

The contract only allows the Goose Masters of Northeast Florida to service the inner-core areas of campus including Lot 14 and the Adam W. Herbert University Center. This means the outer-areas of UNF, such as Lot 18, still have flocks of geese roaming around.

David Bennett is the vice president of Goose Masters Northeast Florida and is also Bee’s handler. He expressed his frustration with the limitations in the contract.

“We’d like to attend to Lot 18, because it would make it easier for us,” Bennet said. “They’re right there on the other side [of campus] and it’s easy for them to fly in. That’s why we have to keep the pressure around here, or else they’ll just keep coming in.”

Goose Masters isn’t contracted to work at student housing complexes either. Bennett says it’s up to the university to decide whether or not the dogs should expand to the outer-campus.

Bennett and the other members of Goose Masters come on-site two to three times a day. Though, if students haven’t seen Bee or her other co-workers Molly and Tex, that’s because the geese know they’re there too.

“If we get into a routine, they’ll get into a routine so we vary our times,” says Bennett.

These times vary from working late at night to early in the morning. The schedule will always change as they scare the geese away on different parts of the campus. Lately, they’ve been doing a good job in areas like the J.B. Coxwell Amphitheater. It’s been free of geese compared to less than a year ago when they ran wild.

David says he used to see about 100 geese on-site every day four years ago. On Nov. 22, there were only 9 and were absolutely terrified as they flew for their lives when they saw Bee and her friends.

“When we come around next year, we’re hoping that it would just become a maintenance where we won’t have to come quite as often,” Bennett said. “Our goal is to make sure you never see any geese here.”

Bee’s contract currently runs through July, and she and her co-workers continue to keep the campus safe from geese attacks.

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