{"id":519256,"date":"2026-06-26T09:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T09:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519256\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T09:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T09:40:12","slug":"no-wild-goose-chase-two-dogs-keep-birds-off-world-cup-training-pitch-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519256\/","title":{"rendered":"No wild goose chase: Two dogs keep birds off World Cup training pitch in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, June 25 (Reuters) – Border collies Ben and Sally have a special mission for the World Cup<\/a> in Toronto: keeping the notorious Canada geese off the training pitch \u200bused by visiting teams to prepare for their games.<\/p>\n

It is hard work \u200cthat needs to be done twice a day, five days a week, while being on standby if the birds decide they would like some football action at the facilities in Centennial Park \u200bin the northwest corner of the city.<\/p>\n

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But Ben and Sally are always \u200bup for the task.<\/p>\n

“They’re absolutely perfect work companions. They will work from (dawn \u2060till dusk) and still be wanting to go in the evening when we \u200bfinish work,” said Gareth Williams, the owner of Border Control Bird Dogs, a goose management \u200bagency contracted for the job.<\/p>\n

Williams explained why the birds, which are protective and sometimes aggressive \u2014 with a reputation for occupying green spaces near airports and parks \u2014 are a problem for organizers of \u200bthe global showpiece event.<\/p>\n

Item 1 of 6 Sally, 2.5 years old, one of two border collies hired to keep Canada geese off a FIFA World Cup training pitch, stands at a goal post at a soccer field at the Centennial Park in Toronto, Canada, June 24, 2026. REUTERS\/Thomas Mukoya<\/p>\n

[1\/6]Sally, 2.5 years old, one of two border collies hired to keep Canada geese off a FIFA World Cup training pitch, stands at a goal post at a soccer field at the Centennial Park in Toronto, Canada,… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab<\/a> Read more<\/p>\n

“It’s very important to keep the soccer fields clear, because goose \u200bfeces actually carry disease, which would obviously be bad for everybody. It also actually burns the \u200cturf, \u2060so it would cause the playing surface not to be as good,” he said.<\/p>\n

Eight-year-old Ben is easygoing and a veteran at the job. He is always on the lookout for a goose.<\/p>\n

Sally, who is 2-1\/2 years old, is on work mode the moment \u200bshe dons a \u200bhi-vis vest, says her \u2060handler Spencer Jones. But he has no complaints.<\/p>\n

“It’s our first year working together, but the bond between her and (me)… it’s grown \u200bso rapidly, and we’ve become an awesome team working at \u200bFIFA (World) Cup,” \u2060Jones said.<\/p>\n

While the agency has been helping manage goose population at green spaces including cemeteries, hospitals and golf courses in the province of Ontario for years, the dogs have brought \u2060special \u200battention during the World Cup.<\/p>\n

“It’s actually been a breath \u200bof fresh air to have the chance to make people aware of what we do,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

Reporting \u200bby Bhargav Acharya, Kyaw Soe Oo and Imad Creidi in Toronto; Editing by Hugh Lawson<\/p>\n

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Based in Toronto, Bhargav reports on breaking news across U.S. and Canada. Previously he spent three years with Reuters’ Sub-Saharan Africa breaking news hub in Johannesburg, and covered former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius’s release, and the historic 2024 South African election. He was part of a team of reporters that Reuters named Journalists of the Year in 2023 in the Speed category for coverage of Africa. He has also spent three years in India with the news agency’s Global News Monitoring team. He has a master’s degree in International Studies. When he is not working, Bhargav likes to read and travel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO, June 25 (Reuters) – Border collies Ben and Sally have a special mission for the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111412,9781,221527,115710,111428,221531,114283,221529,221530,111398,111927,19356,61,60,24783,77792,97806,111414,1653,114284,221528,82,132986,221523,111406,221524,221525,90,221526,263],"class_list":["post-519256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-amers","tag-ca","tag-camer","tag-destocadnm","tag-destocatpm","tag-destoukspm","tag-destouslfm","tag-destousoem","tag-destousspm","tag-dli","tag-emrg","tag-gen","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latam","tag-lif","tag-mx","tag-namer","tag-odd","tag-packageus-lifestyle","tag-rulessoccer-world-cup","tag-science","tag-soc","tag-socc","tag-soci","tag-spo","tag-swcup","tag-us","tag-wcup","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}