Where are all my animal lovers at?
So I’ve recently been taking care of a family of geese- perhaps involuntarily… I fell in love with how idyllic their family dynamic is. The mum always goes first, then the four babies and then the dad will walk behind with his chest up making sure that his brood is ok. This family are very militant compared to the other families I see. They always walk in this perfect linear formation (like the Von Trapps) and they seem a lot smarter than some of the other geese.
Over the past few weeks I’ve witnessed these babies grow (see pictures…). And the dad- who I have named ‘King Goose’ no longer hisses at me, he trusts me as does ‘Mother Goose’.
I noticed the recently that one of the babies couldn’t keep up with the rest or remain in perfection formation any longer. Instead, it would just struggle behind waiting for Mother Goose to turn back and get him, to then return him to the three amigos (his/her siblings). But sometimes he/she would just sit down in frustration or pain and refuse to move.
I knew something was up.
Saturday morning I noticed from my window that there were only three children and the mother was crying (honking) over and over again trying to find her fourth baby.
I raced down to feed them to be sure the little one was missing and sure enough he was.
On my way for my run I bumped into my new friend Rene who recently saved a swan and duckling (more on those soon)… I told him I had lost a gosling. He suggested I get on his boat to look for him. So I jumped onto the boat and around the marina we went.
I knew my husband would be mad (as I’m a nervous swimmer) but hoped he wouldn’t find out. But sure enough my phone started buzzing and my husband saw me from our apartment window! Just as I was putting my phone back in my pocket having been playfully scolded, I spied the gosling on a rock at the side of the marina. All alone… When the gosling moved, we could see it was struggling to walk. Something was wrong with its leg. We gave the baby gosling some food and headed back to Rene’s dock to get more supplies to begin the rescue.
When we returned (now with my husband and Rene’s wife Monica in tow), we found the gosling reunited with his family in the water. We could see he was struggling to swim but we were not going to unnecessarily separate it from the family. So we let things be.
That night I walked my dog and saw that King Goose, Mother Goose and the Three Amigos were eating the grass at the yacht club. But Stark (the baby gosling- named after the surviving children in Game of Thrones and not knowing the sex…) was nowhere in sight.
I raced back to the car park area and sure enough, there was Stark… all alone. My heart broke. I still hesitated to help the little guy as I knew by this point the family were pretty smart and would return for Stark.
Inside my apartment, shortly after, I saw a man let his dog chase all the geese (and Stark) away… I could not see where Stark went and assumed we had lost the gosling for good. There was no way Stark would have survived the jump not being able to fly yet.
My heart broke… To make matters worse, an hour later Stark’s family returned to the car park in search for him/her. I saw Mother Goose searching frantically but none of us knew where Stark had gone.
The next morning I decided to go for a run to help calm me down. I was pretty upset for not saving Stark when I had the chance the night before.
Minutes into my run, I saw Stark.
All alone.
Sat on some grass, nibbling on it occasionally. I immediately asked a man nearby if he knew the gosling was there and warned him it was injured and struggling to walk. He said he had noticed and wanted to help.
I rounded up Monica and my husband. We immediately sprung into action. The gosling was frightened which made me question if we were doing the right thing… but the regatta was happening and the area was getting busier with foot traffic.
After an actual wild goose chase, we managed to put Stark in a crate with some food (he was ok to eat as it was just a leg injury). We managed to have some luck in Lisa who kindly postponed her plans in order to drive us to The Raptor Trust.
Once there at The Raptor Trust, we handed over Stark with hope that they may be able to figure out what’s wrong, so the family may be reunited (I will be keeping tabs on them in the meanwhile hoping it will all work out)…
If it looks like Stark wouldn’t survive in the wild, the saddest outcome may be that Stark will have to stay at The Raptor Trust with the other abandoned or injured Ducklings and Goslings, and the American Eagle with one eye. So Stark will never be completely alone.
As of now we are still anxiously waiting to hear about Stark. But I will keep you all updated.
If you are feeding the wildlife please make sure you have done your research and you are not encouraging them to be close to roads and cars. Also please do not feed the ducks, geese and swans bread… the kinds with sugar and chemical preservatives are really bad for them. Healthy bread is ok once in a while but it’s like feeding them candy. Look into a good brand of floating food for water foul like this here.
If you love to help animals then be sure to read this post; https://bimboinlimbo.com/how-to-use-instagram-for-the-greater-good/
Lastly; if you wish to make a donation to The Raptor Trust you can do so here. Even $5 helps!
As always,
Live with Love,
The Bimbo in Limbo xxxx