'Avoid the honk': Interactive map helps Waterloo students stay away from Canada geese

A University of battle of waterloo pupil has launched an interactive goose map out, called Waddleloo, to facilitate students pilot the problem of “aggressive geese” on campus.

Anirudh Dabas, a first-year computer science student, said his first encounter with a Canada goose was shocking.

“The worst thing about it, is that you hear them before you see them. I was just walking out and I hear this big hissing sound from behind me and I was like, ‘what is that?’ And I turned back and this goose is like flying in my face.” 

As an international student from Delhi, he had never experienced a Canada goose flying at him until last September.

The problem of aggressive geese on campus is not new. Just last week, a viral video showed a Canada goose trapped on a campus building at Wilfrid Laurier University causing chaos.

Screams heard as Canada goose flies through Laurier campus building

To help other students avoid the same experience, he created Waddleloo, which allows users to upload goose sightings to the platform and find the safest route to class. 

“The geese were here first. So we basically have to work around them instead of trying to solve the problem of the geese themselves,” said Dabas.

Canada geese are federally protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which means a permit is needed to relocate Canada geese.

Dabas launched the platform, which works similarly to Google Maps, on March 23. Students can enter their start and end location, and the map will show the best route to avoid “high-risk” areas.

He said geese tend to be aggressive at certain spots, such as active nesting areas. Those areas are pinned on the map, showing where to avoid nesting geese. 

If students aren’t as scared of geese, Dabas said they have three comfort-level options: avoid all, cautious and comfortable. The route adjusts accordingly to a user's preference.

To find out where geese are located across campus, the map uses crowd-sourced information, a feature Dabas said he’s the most proud of. 

Users can upload photos of goose sightings and flag the location on the map. The photos are analyzed by AI, using a YOLO detection model, an algorithm model that detects objects in an image.

The data is fed to Gemini, which determines if there are goslings, the posture and number of geese and if there are any eggs.

Photos are flagged to the map according to the risk of aggression: low, moderate or high. Dabas said he also reviews each submission before it’s posted on the map, to prevent trolls.

Some students say a solution to help avoid geese is necessary.

“I feel like they’re pretty aggressive and they just always want to attack me and my friend here,” said Berkley Maclean, a University of Waterloo arts student. Maclean said it would be beneficial to people who are terrified of geese.

Interactive goose map, Waddleloo, helps UW students steer clear of aggressive geese

Talia Sarfatti is a science business student and she said she’s witnessed some people getting attacked by Canada geese.

“I’m actually really scared of them," Sarfatti said.

Oliver Fieduna, a planning student at University of Waterloo, said the goose problem has also affected him.

“I was walking to class the other day and this goose is camping at the door, and he starts hissing at me … I had to, like, sprint away and kind of wave him off," he said.

Dabas said his map allows students to get to class safely.

“I think it’s a very, very real problem," he said.

He has already expanded Waddleloo to Wilfrid Laurier University and plans to expand to McMaster and Western in the future.

Dabas said the success of Waddleloo has been surreal.

“When I made it, I did not think it was going to do so well … It’s gotten hundreds of thousands of views and a lot of people are using it.”

Dabas said he got the idea from a previous local platform, GooseWatch, which stopped updating after COVID.

“I think it genuinely left a big gap. And that is what I aim to fill with Waddleloo," he said.

He said the website wasn’t for a school project, but simply “for the love of the game and for the love of coding.” 

Last year, the Guelph Humane Society noted that nesting season lasts only a few weeks, but geese can be "especially protective" during that time.

The humane society also shared tips to share space with geese in the spring, including:

The humane society noted Canada geese are protected under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, which means it is illegal to disturb or move a nest. 

In southern Ontario, temperate-breeding Canada geese populations continue to increase. According to the Government of Canada website, there were over 60,000 breeding pairs of Canada geese in 2025, located in southern Ontario.

---

---