Yesterday, I answered an emergency call about an injured Canada goose in Hellyer Park, in San Jose.
I’ve been to Hellyer Park quite a few times when doing “my rounds", so I knew what to expect. There could be, literally, hundreds of geese there. With that in mind, I brought my 7 year old daughter along to help.
When we arrived, sure enough, the park was full of Canada geese, each one looking nearly identical to the next.
We were looking for a goose with fishing line wrapped around its leg. Many of the geese were "resting". We'd have to "ask" them to stand to get a peek at their legs.
I reminded my daughter how to approach the birds - close enough to encourage them to stand, but slow enough not to scare them off.
She took one side of the path, I took the other.
We'd gotten about 40 birds to stand, when I spotted the injured one.
It had fishing lined wrapped tightly around its leg, cutting into its skin. The leg was severely swollen.
On approach, it limped a couple of inches, then sat back down. A few geese in the surrounding flock pecked at the weak one. I'd need them to move off if I was going to catch this poor bird.
I handed some crumbles to my daughter and asked her to entice them away.
With just a few geese around me, I began tossing crumbles toward the injured bird, maneuvering it into place on my right side. As soon as I felt it was within arm's reach, I slowly crouched beside it, waited for the right moment, then pounced.
I got it!
I gathered the big bird's wings and placed a pillow over its eyes to reduce visual stress. We loaded it into a carrier and transported it to the wildlife hospital - Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. With luck, it will recover from this injury to be released back to the wild.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the injury was so severe, the goose was euthanized.
I’ve been to Hellyer Park quite a few times when doing “my rounds", so I knew what to expect. There could be, literally, hundreds of geese there. With that in mind, I brought my 7 year old daughter along to help.
When we arrived, sure enough, the park was full of Canada geese, each one looking nearly identical to the next.
We were looking for a goose with fishing line wrapped around its leg. Many of the geese were "resting". We'd have to "ask" them to stand to get a peek at their legs.
I reminded my daughter how to approach the birds - close enough to encourage them to stand, but slow enough not to scare them off.
She took one side of the path, I took the other.
We'd gotten about 40 birds to stand, when I spotted the injured one.
It had fishing lined wrapped tightly around its leg, cutting into its skin. The leg was severely swollen.
On approach, it limped a couple of inches, then sat back down. A few geese in the surrounding flock pecked at the weak one. I'd need them to move off if I was going to catch this poor bird.
I handed some crumbles to my daughter and asked her to entice them away.
With just a few geese around me, I began tossing crumbles toward the injured bird, maneuvering it into place on my right side. As soon as I felt it was within arm's reach, I slowly crouched beside it, waited for the right moment, then pounced.
I got it!
I gathered the big bird's wings and placed a pillow over its eyes to reduce visual stress. We loaded it into a carrier and transported it to the wildlife hospital - Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. With luck, it will recover from this injury to be released back to the wild.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, the injury was so severe, the goose was euthanized.
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