we went through a little of that pain. We woke up one day to a pair with about 6 young ones swimming around in the pond. The little ones couldn't fly yet so they stayed put in the pond. We have underground dog fence around the pond so the dog barked liked crazy but didn't go in. We tried everything so scare them off but no luck. After we harrassed them enough and they started sqawking and flapping the dog had enough of the excitement and bolted into the pond and swam after them for about an hour. Try as I might I couldn't get him to come out of the pond and of course he couldn't catch them either as when he got close they just flew over to the other side.

Then at night I flashed bright lights into their eyes and I was very happy when in the morning they were gone. Just one day, poop EVERYWHERE.

I hear you just have to make it inhospitable for them and they look for a quieter place. Dogs work great to harass them and sometimes people will bring their labs (or other swimming dogs) over to chase them a bit. Probably you have to do it a few times to get them to leave.

Oh, and we wished we had a life jacket for our dog at that moment. He acted as if he wasn't going to come out of that pond till he couldn't paddle anymore even though he had no chance of catching them.

I agree with laser lights or night time harassment.

Why are these critters protected again can someone please explain?