My Nonprofit Reviews

My mom takes daily walks in the field and woods behind her house. This field and wood surround a natural pond where there are many year-round wildlife residents. Canada geese are an almost permanent fixture there, whether overwintering or stopping by on their migration. One fall day, looking out toward the field getting ready for her daily walk, my mother noticed a Canada goose that had stayed in the same spot all morning while the others had not. She went to investigate. It turns out the goose had walked right into a rusty old metal foot trap that the farmer of that field must have left there for a fox or groundhog, but sure enough it had trapped this goose instead. My mom ran back to get a large basket, a towel, and something to pry the old rusty trap open. After successfully freeing the goose she waited for him to fly away. He didn't. He just sat down and hissed and hissed at her (his only defense). She bravely loaded him into the basket (he put up a very feeble fight) and decided to have him spend the night in the basket sheltered in the garage with food and water and if he hadn't regained his strength by morning, she knew just where to take him, the Center for Wildlife. Well, the next morning, the goose still would not stand up. So she called CFW and let them know what happened and they told her to bring the goose right in. The goose had some superficial wounds, was dehydrated and weak. Who knows how long he was stuck in that trap before my mother noticed him and took action. The staff at CFW cleaned and looked after his wounds, and monitored him for a few days while he hydrated and regained his strength. My mom called to check his status after a few days and the wonderful caring staff at CFW let her know that physically he was healed, but he was showing signs of depression. See, the staff educated us that geese mate for life, and mated pairs raise and protect their young together. They are very social creatures and family-oriented and they show signs of depression when they are all alone. They asked us if there was still a flock of Canada geese in the field or if they had already moved on without our little injured guy. We confirmed that they were still there. So, the staff allowed us to come pick the now healed Canada goose up, bring him back to the field and release him next to that flock, in hopes that he would be accepted. They were on the fence with releasing him back to where he was first endangered by the farmer's foot trap but the benefits of being with his flock again outweighed the chance that he would stumble into another trap. We got the large animal crate as close to the flock as we could without scaring them off and opened the door to the crate. The goose hesitated, then took a few steps out and off he flew toward the flock. There was much raucous honking as he flew over the flock. Suddenly 3 other geese took flight and joined him and they flew over the treeline together. I like to think that it was his family waiting for him to come back before continuing on their migration. The care and education the CFW staff provided regarding this Canada goose, not only helped to him heal but made that homecoming and family reunion possible. They are amazing.

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