Last Monday police officer James Givens was sitting in his patrol car in
a parking lot when someone knocked on the door. He looked out to see a
goose pecking at the door to get his attention. His first thought was
that it wanted something to eat so he tossed it some food. The goose
ignored the snack, pecked at the door again, and then waddled a little
way away and looked back at Givens. He decided to get out and follow to
see what was up.
A Real Mother Goose Story
As it turned out, it was a good thing that Givens had followed the bird. She had led him to a nearby creek. In an open, grassy area he discovered why she was so distressed. A gosling was caught up in the string of an old Mother's Day balloon. Its little webbed feet were kicking in the air. Givens was unsure about approaching the baby since he had heard of geese attacking if humans approached their offspring. So he called the SPCA.
There were no rescuers immediately available to come to help but another police officer, Cecilia Charron, had overheard the call and offered to help. Even though Givens cautioned her, Charron just walked right in, picked up the gosling, and began to disentangle it from its predicament. It seemed as though her own mothering instincts were kicking in. The mama goose watched anxiously from several feet away.
Image via The Dodo
It took a couple of minutes for Charron to free the baby bird, but it was finally free. She set it down and it took off running. That is when you know the animal is okay. After a second the mama goose turned and waddled off after her child. Soon after that the officers saw the pair swimming happily together.
It is always amazing when wild animals approach humans for help, but how do they know to do this? Moreover, how would a mother goose know that the best type of human to approach in an emergency would be a police officer? These are questions that Givens and Charron are likely to ponder for years to come.
Source: The Dodo
