RIDGELAND(AP) — Complaints about the mess left by Canada geese around the Ross Barnett Reservoir have prompted the reservoir district to arrange to have trapped and euthanized.

    The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District’s board of directors hired the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week for $1,000 to trap about 150 geese later this month or in early July.

    ‘‘They are creating quite a mess in the parks and boat launches,’’ said John Sigman, the district’s executive director. ‘‘We’ll see how it goes and what people think of it.’’

    Craig Hunt, head of the district’s parks and recreation department, said most people who complain are upset about the droppings. ‘‘They defecate all over the ramps and piers, where people are in flip-flops or barefooted,’’ he said.

    The droppings also can hurt water quality, said Patrick Smith, a wildlife biologist for the USDA’s Wildlife Services and district supervisor for the Stoneville office.

    He said geese typically are euthanized by carbon dioxide. It’s painless, he said.

    Relocation isn’t likely, he said. ‘‘Nobody in the state wants to have them turned loose on their place,’’ Smith said. Plus, they can just fly back.

    Smith said the USDA catches geese at several sites around Mississippi each year. It’s always in the summer because geese are molting and can’t fly away while being corralled into a cage, he said.

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    Information from: The Clarion-Ledger, http://www.clarionledger.com