This city’s parks department has agreed to extend through 2006 a nonlethal approach to managing Canada geese in Seattle parks, Ken Bounds, Parks and Recreation superintendent, said Friday.

The program has been in place since 2004.

Bounds and representatives from the Progressive Animal Welfare Society and the Humane Society of the United States have agreed on the continued use of volunteers in goose management.

The two animal welfare organizations will continue to recruit volunteers to clean up goose droppings from the beaches and fields at five Seattle parks that historically draw lots of geese: Gas Works, Green Lake, South Lake Union, Matthews Beach and Madison Beach. Pritchard Beach will be added to the program in 2006.

The organizations use lasers and trained dogs to encourage geese to leave selected shorelines. Parks staffers supervise training and goose management.

The Associated Press