At the company I used to work for, there was a problem with flocks of geese congregating on the fire pond, the lawn and the parking lots, making messes and harassing employees and visitors. The company installed plastic coyotes on the lawn and around the pond. The geese stayed away from them for a couple of days but soon figured out that the coyotes weren't going to chase them. The day that several geese were observed resting in the shade beneath a couple of plastic coyotes, the maintenance department decided that further deterrents were needed.
Next, the company purchased plastic dead geese. That's right. These were replicas of dead geese, made to lay on their backs with their necks stretched out. Supposedly the real geese would be scared of landing in a place where dead geese had taken up residence. The live geese stayed away for a few days, circling, honking, but not landing. Then a few brave geese landed on the lawn and soon more followed. They'd step warily around the plastic dead geese, but after a few days when the live geese noticed that the "carcasses" weren't decomposing, they largely ignored them and went on about their usual business of pooping everywhere and charging employees walking in or out of the building.
Business went on as usual for employess. Visitors were somewhat taken aback though, as they got out of their cars and walked up the main walkway to the building. We'd watch them as they looked from side to side in horror at the piles of apparently dead geese littering the lawn. It took a bit of explaining.
A consultant was consulted. The consultant said that it was important to move the plastic coyotes and the plastic dead geese around the property several times a day.
The cafeteria had a wide expanse of windows overlooking the pond and lawns, and watching a small army of uniformed maintenance people dragging around plastic coyotes and playing catch with plastic dead geese was happily anticipated lunchtime entertainment for employees.
Even more entertaining was watching the geese charge the maintenance people as they tried to pose the coyotes and plastic goose carcasses in new locations. One day a frustrated maintenance man grabbed a portable airhorn and blasted a group of attacking geese.
Success!! The geese panicked and flew off in a cloud of feathers! The plastic dead geese and coyotes were retired to storage racks in the warehouse where they became points of interest for tour groups. A maintenance person was assigned permanent airhorn duty.
Several times a day conversations would be interrupted by blasts of an airhorn from various parts of the property, followed by the flapping of hundreds of wings. A rowboat was used to ferry the maintenance person out to the middle of the firepond to blast the airhorn at the poor geese trying to huddle there in safety away from the obnoxious noise. (This was almost as much fun to watch during lunchtime as the dead goose lobbing was.)
Eventually the airhorn became less effective, and forays into the masses of geese had to be stepped up.
The consultant was reconsulted. The water was apparently the problem. Without the water the geese would stay away. Installing a grid of monofilament line across the firepond to prevent the geese from landing was one suggestion. Another was to install a low fence around the perimeter of the pond. Geese apparently don't like to land on water that has a fence around it.
Of course, the consultant said, the best deterrent was a sheep dog specially trained to herd the geese away.
All of the new options were discussed at the highest levels of management. Cost analyses were prepared. Meetings were held. Meanwhile, company sales dropped precipitously and the management decided to focus on running the business for a while. The company said they needed to cut back on payroll and control expenses.
I left the company about that time.
Last I heard business was still bad, they still had lots of geese and they were still using the airhorn.
This is an absolutely true story!