Fireball-blasting cannon keeps problem geese away, inventor says

A Manitoba outfitter and guide has invented a handheld cannon that shoots fire balls at geese. We're not joking, and neither is the inventor of the device, who says it can be used to scare the birds — and their mess — away from urban greenspaces and ponds.

"The poop, the water, it's just people don't want to walk in it," says Terry Leochko, who has dumped over $12,000 in patent fees into the non-lethal deterrent, dubbed "the goose blaster."

"I talk to people on soccer fields, golf courses, [who] hate 'em. It's not the birds — it's just the poop."

The blaster consists of an aluminum tubular device that uses a roman candle cartridge to project fire balls, preferably in the direction of geese and other so-called "pest" species, Leochko says.

"It doesn't harm the geese. I shoot above the geese, the geese lift up; I shoot under the geese, and it works," Leochko says.

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"I have crows, seagulls, I had deer in the yard, and I shot it … and  they just leave, they don't all like the ball of light."

The device shoots up to 100 metres and Leochko says it's safe, because he primarily shoots it into the water.

So far, he hasn't  been granted a permit from the City of Winnipeg to use the blaster within city limits.