Chronicles of Seven Stranded Geese

Rahm in her sanctuary

2009-07-12T23:42:00.009-05:00

Of the five geese we captured last fall, Rahm ended up with the best deal of all even though she nearly ended up being euthanized as we could not find a place that would accept her.

While Joe and the other three ended up in Fort Whyte's indoor pond and are still in there today, Rahm is enjoying her beautiful, peaceful sanctuary north of Winnipeg with new friends she has made. Shannon Kurbis, who runs the sanctuary, sent us some photos of Rahm and her friends and we were so delighted to see that she looked so well and was in such a beautiful place among friends.

Rahm is the one with the broken left wing. We named her after Rahm Emmanuel so that we could remember which wing she'd broken.

Joe and his three friends

2009-07-12T23:29:00.003-05:00

JULY 5, 2009:

Joe and his three friends are still living in Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond with 16 other Canada geese, a dozen snow geese, ten greater white-fronted geese, a lone sandhill crane, a lone tundra swan and about twenty or more ducks of all kinds. They all look healthy and it looks like they'll be remaining in this indoor pond indefinitely. It would be better for them to be outside in the fresh air with grass and sunshine but given that most of them are unable to fly, there are few good choices for them. At least, they're safe here, they're being fed, they have a good, clean source of water and they get the morning sunlight through the open windows. And Joe and his three friends are together safe and sound. This may not be the best solution but it beats being stranded outdoors during our long and brutal winters. We will continue to visit them through the year.

Videoclip of geese, ducks, lone swan and sandhill crane at Fort Whyte

2009-06-22T23:00:00.002-05:00

We wanted to upload a videoclip taken at Fort Whyte of our four geese and the other Canada geese, snow geese, greater white-fronted geese, ducks, and lone sandhill crane and tundra swan to this blog but the file size is too large so we're uploading to YouTube and pasting the link here.

Please CLICK HERE for the videoclip.

Surprise! Surprise!

2009-06-16T21:54:00.006-05:00

June 16, 2009:

We decided to visit Fort Whyte Alive to find out if our four geese were still housed at their indoor pond. We were not expecting to see them there since it's June 16 and very warm outdoors with open water everywhere. So we were surprised to see that they were still there.

All twenty Canada geese are still there as well as the snow geese and greater white-fronted geese and all the ducks. The Meanies, a pair of trumpeter swans who terrorized poor Joe back in November, are gone. One of the tundra swans is gone, which is strange and sad, because the other one is left here alone without his mate. They were inseparable during their time indoors and we have no idea why they've been separated. The lone sandhill crane is also still there, visibly upset about being indoors for so long. He pecked loudly at the wooden beam of the wall as if he was trying to say, "Get me out of here!" Who could blame him? He'd been indoors for almost seven months, which is a very long time for an outdoor creature to be inside.

A visit to our geese at Fort Whyte Alive

2009-06-10T10:02:00.008-05:00

VIDEOCLIP OF THE INDOOR WATERFOWL AT FORT WHYTE ALIVE

MAY 19, 2009: We visited Fort Whyte Alive to find out if our four geese were still indoors in their waterfowl display pond and indeed, they were! They're supposed to be transported to the Richardson Farm pond for the warmer months but we have a feeling that the flooding in the south of Winnipeg is the reason for their still being here so late in the year. Most of the nesting geese have already had their babies so the relocation of the indoor waterfowl to the outdoor ponds of Richardson Farm is long overdue. They need to feed on grass and pond vegetation, something they cannot eat indoors and they need the sun and the open air so we hope they'll soon be outdoors enjoying the spring weather. They've been indoors since the end of November, almost six months.

We have also been keeping a close eye on Ms. Green, one of the three geese we had rescued and brought to the indoor pond. On March 9, we had observed that one of her wings was drooping. Since that day, we have taken many photos of her and we have come to the conclusion that there is no break and she is fine, which is a huge relief for us.

Meanwhile, these two geese are still nesting on the grounds of Fort Whyte.

Princess Margaret School: Hunter's art and letter

2009-04-02T21:37:00.003-05:00

Hunter is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Hunter writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and card. How is the Canada goose with the broken wing?
Love, Hunter

Dear Hunter,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. It's so sweet of you to care about the geese. There were two geese with broken wings. One found a very nice, safe home in a shelter north of Winnipeg. The other one is with the other three geese at an indoor pond now. Both geese with broken wings will never be able to fly again but they are safe.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Jack's art and letter

2009-04-02T21:30:00.003-05:00

Jack is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Jack writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD.
Love, Jack

Dear Jack,
You're very welcome. We hope you enjoyed the movie. Thank you for your letter and your drawings. They're sweet. The geese are back! Enjoy them and enjoy the spring!
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Kyra's drawings and letter

2009-04-01T23:04:00.002-05:00

Kyra is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Kyra writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card.
Love, Kyra

Dear Kyra,
Thank you for your letter and cute drawings. The geese are back so we hope you're going out to visit them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Anonymous Writer and Artist

2009-04-01T22:49:00.005-05:00

This student forgot to sign the letter and art. If you know who the student is, please post a comment on the blog. We appreciate your assistance.

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. How are the geese? Did they fly south?
Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. The geese are fine. Two of them flew south but the other five could not fly. We hope the two are back!
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Josen's art and letter

2009-03-31T21:35:00.004-05:00

Josen is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Josen writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card and DVD. How are the Canada geese doing?
Love, Josen

Dear Josen,
Thank you for your letter and colorful artwork. The injured Canada geese were rescued and they're all doing very well. Thank you for caring about them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Trey's art and letter

2009-03-31T21:29:00.003-05:00

Trey is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Trey writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card and the DVD. Are the geese south?
Love, Trey

Dear Trey,
Thank you for the letter and the cute drawings. Two of the geese flew south late in November. We hope they're back now!
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Israel's art and letter

2009-03-30T21:19:00.002-05:00

Israel is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Israel writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. We liked your DVD. How are the Canada geese doing? Thank you for the card.
Love, Israel

Dear Israel,
Thank you for your letter and your cute drawings of Canada geese. We're glad you enjoyed the movie. The geese are doing very well. Thank you for caring about them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Jessica B's art and letter

2009-03-30T21:09:00.004-05:00

Jessica B. is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. Jessica writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card and the DVD. How are the Canada geese? I hope the Canada goose is okay. Did the other Canada geese fly south? Did you take the picture?
Love, Jessica B.

Dear Jessica B.,
Thank you for your letter and your pretty pictures of geese. The geese are doing very well. Two of them flew south. We hope they've returned with the other geese. We're sure you've seen some geese in the last week. Isn't it exciting that they're back safe and sound? And yes, Choo took the picture. She loves taking pictures of geese.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Emillee's art and letter

2009-03-28T22:36:00.003-05:00

Emillee is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the movie. I liked it so much and what are the geese doing now? How are they doing? Is the goose with the broken wing okay?

Dear Emillee:
Thank you for your lovely letter and art. Your drawings are beautiful. We're glad you enjoyed the movie. The geese are safe inside now. Two geese had broken wings. They will never be able to fly again but they'll be safe. Thank you for thinking of them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Riley's art and letter

2009-03-27T23:03:00.004-05:00

Riley is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the movie. Did every one get to fly south? Does the goose still have a broken wing? Did they all make it?
Love, Riley

Dear Riley,
Thank you for caring about the geese and thank you for your letter and drawings. They're beautiful. As you know, seven geese were stranded. Only two flew south. They stayed with their mates but when we caught their mates, they decided to fly south. Two geese had broken wings. They still have broken wings and they will never fly again but they're safe. The other three geese were injured but they will fly again this year. So they all made it.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Gabrielle's art and letter

2009-03-27T22:52:00.004-05:00

Gabrielle is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and the card. How are the geese? How was your Christmas? Where did you get the picture? Are the Canada geese happy now? Are the geese safe?
Love, Gabrielle

Dear Gabrielle:
Thank you for your letter and your drawings. Your art is lovely and it's sweet and thoughtful of you to care about us and the injured geese. They're doing very well and they're safe. I took the picture of the geese at their favorite spot, in the park in Lindenwoods. We live in Lindenwoods, too. On Christmas day, we drove to the north of Winnipeg to care for another stranded goose. We hope you enjoyed your Christmas.
Thank you for caring.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Sabreena's art and letter

2009-03-25T22:56:00.005-05:00

Sabreena is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and the card. How are you? How are the geese? I love the DVD. I am happy for the geese. How is Earl?
Love, Sabreena

Dear Sabreena,
Thank you for your letter and drawings and thanks for asking about us and the geese. We like your art very much and we are doing well and now that our geese have returned, we're out visiting them and loving them. We hope you go out and enjoy the geese, too. The injured geese are doing fine. They're happy and safe.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Jocelynne's art and letter

2009-03-25T22:50:00.004-05:00

Jocelynne is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. We liked it. Thank you for the card. We love it.
Love, Jocelynn

Dear Jocelynn,
You're very welcome. We're glad you enjoyed our card and the DVD. Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your artwork is beautiful. Soon there will be baby geese in the ponds, just like in your picture. Go out and enjoy being around them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Sara's art and letter

2009-03-25T22:44:00.005-05:00

Sara is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card. Did the Canada goose fly south?
Love, Sara

Dear Sara,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are very cute. We like them. Two geese flew south when we caught their friends that could not fly. We hope they'll be back this spring.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Dominick's art and letter

2009-03-25T22:37:00.005-05:00

Dominick is Ms. Krochak's first grade pupil at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card and movie. I really liked it. Are the Canada geese alright? Is the goose with the broken wing okay?
Love, Dominick

Dear Dominick,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are very beautiful. We're very pleased you enjoyed the movie. We managed to save the injured geese so they're doing fine. The two geese with broken wings are okay. They're safe and happy. Thank you for caring about them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Dylan's art and letter

2009-03-24T22:54:00.005-05:00

Dylan is Ms. Krochak's first grade pupil at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and card. Where are you? How are the Canada geese doing?
Love, Dylan

Dear Dylan,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are lovely. There must be many geese where you live. We live in Winnipeg, just like you! The injured geese are doing well. They're happy in a safe indoor pond. Soon, when the ponds melt, they'll be allowed to go outside and play. Thanks for caring about them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Tyson's art and letter

2009-03-24T22:43:00.004-05:00

Tyson is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. How are you? What are you doing? Where are the geese? Where are you? How is Choo? Is the wing better? We watched the DVD. We liked it.
Love, Tyson

Dear Tyson:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are lovely. We are doing quite well and we are happy that our geese have come home to nest and have their babies. We're in Winnipeg, too, just like you! The two geese with broken wings will never be able to fly again but they're doing fine. We're very pleased that you enjoyed the movie. Go out and enjoy the geese!
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Destiny's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:51:00.005-05:00

Destiny is Ms. Krochak's first grade pupil at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and note. Is the Canada goose okay? Is the Canada goose that had the broken wing okay?
Love, Destiny

Dear Destiny:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are very lovely. We like them very much. The geese are doing fine. Two of them have broken wings and they'll never fly again but they'll be safe. The other three geese will fly again later this year. Thanks for caring about them.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Camila's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:45:00.005-05:00

Camila is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. We think you are great at helping Canada geese. You're so wonderful to help Canada geese.
Love, Camila

Dear Camila,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. The drawing of the goose family is adorable. We think you're great and wonderful, too, for caring about the geese. Your teacher deserves top marks for sharing her love for the geese with all of you.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Taylor's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:38:00.004-05:00

Taylor is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the movie. How are the Canada geese doing? Did the doctor fix up the Canada goose? How are the other geese? Did they fly south?
Love, Taylor

Dear Taylor,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are beautiful. Five geese were injured. We caught them and they're doing very well indoors. Two of them will never fly again but they'll be safe. Two geese could fly. When we were capturing the five geese, these two geese got scared and flew away but they flew back to look for their mates the next day. When they found out that their mates were gone, they flew south.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Chad's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:33:00.004-05:00

Chad is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo:
Thank you for the DVD. How are the Canada geese?
Love, Chad

Dear Chad:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. They're lovely. Four of the injured geese were captured and they're now spending the spring at Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond. The fifth goose was taken to a sanctuary where she'll remain for the rest of her life. They're all doing well and they're happy. The remaining two geese could fly and they flew south when their mates were caught in November. We hope they'll be back soon.
Love,
Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Gareth's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:28:00.005-05:00

Gareth is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the letter and for the DVD. Have the other Canada geese flown to the south?
Love, Gareth

Dear Gareth:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are beautiful. We hope you enjoyed the DVD. Two geese flew to the south. We hope they'll be back soon.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Sebastian's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:21:00.005-05:00

Sebastian is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the gift and DVD. How did you save the geese? How did you get the geese to the doctor?
Love, Sebastian.

Dear Sebastian:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your drawings are lovely. Our friends helped us catch Joe. Winnipeg's radio guy, Ace Burpee and his team came with Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center to catch the other four geese. We put them in doggy carriers and took them to the rehabilitation center where they were cared for. Thank you for your concern about the geese and we're glad you enjoyed the movie.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Denis's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:14:00.004-05:00

Denis is Ms. Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD. I like your DVD. We love it! How are the Canada goose? Does it still have a broken wing?
Love, Denis

Dear Denis:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. They're cute. We're glad you enjoyed the movie and thank you for thinking about the geese. Five of them are safe indoors. They look happy. Two of them have broken wings and will never fly but they'll be safe for the rest of their lives.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Jessica's art and letter

2009-03-24T12:05:00.005-05:00

Jessica is Ms. Celeste Krochak's first grade pupil at the Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada. She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the movie. It's very nice. So did the Canada geese fly south?
Love, Jessica.

Dear Jessica,
Thank you for your letter and drawings. Your art is lovely. Only two geese flew south. We captured the other five and they're safe indoors for the winter. Thank you for caring about the geese.
Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Seth's art and letter

2009-03-24T11:51:00.008-05:00

Seth is Ms. Celeste Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada.

He writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the DVD and the card. How are the geese? Are they happy?
Love, Seth

Dear Seth:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. They're cute. We caught five geese. They're safe and happy. The other two geese flew back to look for them but when they found that their mates were gone, they flew south. We hope they're happy. Thank you for caring about them.
Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Dakota's art and letter

2009-03-24T11:45:00.011-05:00

Dakota is Ms. Celeste Krochak's first grade student at Princess Margaret School in Winnipeg, Canada.

She writes:

Dear Earl and Choo,
Thank you for the card and DVD. Where did you guys find the Canada geese? Did the Canada geese have babies? What did the nest look like?
Love, Dakota.

Dear Dakota:
Thank you for your letter and drawings. We enjoy your art. It's very nice. During the ice storm, these geese walked about 3 km from their pond to our pond. We don't know if they had babies last spring.
Love, Choo and Earl

Princess Margaret School: Ms. Krochak's letter

2009-03-23T23:31:00.004-05:00

PRINCESS MARGARET SCHOOL
When our story about the stranded geese was published in the Winnipeg Free Press in November 2008, we received a call from Celeste Krochak, who had been teaching her first grade class about Canada geese.

During a conference call, we were touched by the children's concern for the welfare of the injured geese. They wanted to know what they could do to help the geese and they sang us two songs for the geese that moved us to tears.

After the rescue of the five stranded geese, we sent Ms. Krochak's class a card and an animated DVD, "Simon with two left feet."

To our delight and surprise, Ms. Krochak's class sent us a precious collection of drawings and letters that we'd like to share with you here. We begin with Ms. Krochak's letter to us (above).

Green appears to be okay

2009-03-23T23:29:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update. We visited Ms Green and her friends at Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond last week. Her wing looked alright. There was no droop at all and she looked like she did when she arrived last November. We'll upload her photo to the blog soon.

Bad news about Green

2009-03-07T21:57:00.005-06:00

We visited Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond today and discovered to our dismay that Green, one of the three geese rescued from our pond who is wearing a green band placed by Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center, has developed a broken left wing. How it occurred we cannot imagine. Perhaps he got into a fight with the powerful and mean swans. His left wing droops from the elbow joint and even though he is able to spread both wings, he will not be able to fly enough to migrate south this fall.

Unfortunately, because of the extreme iciness of the roads and paths, I didn't carry my camera today so I wasn't able to take photos of Green. I plan to do so on our next visit in the next week or two when some southern migrants will have returned to Winnipeg.

If Green's wing does not improve, we will contact Wildlife Haven to find out what they can do to prevent Fort Whyte Alive from releasing Green in the spring. If Fort Whyte Alive releases Green to their ponds in the spring, he will starve in the fall and be taken by predators because Fort Whyte Alive does not care for their outdoor geese that are injured. It is their policy to allow nature to take its course. That means that all crippled geese starve and are eventually taken by predators, a very sad, tragic and avoidable fate because Fort Whyte Alive promotes the geese in their literature (if not for the presence of the geese, they would not exist) and even solicits donations for their "care" but does not provide any "care."

Please visit these blog entries for more information about Fort Whyte Alive's crippled geese:

Playing Catch-up

2009-02-21T18:58:00.003-06:00

Hello!

We returned from Mexico a month ago and we`re still playing catch-up. Since our return, we have visited Joe and his three friends at the indoor pond of Fort Whyte Alive twice. They are all in good health and appear to be enjoying their winter and getting along well with the other birds in the enclosure. We will bring you some photos and videoclips of them soon.

In the meantime, we`ve added two new items to Love Canada Geese:

Lisa Tretiak, founder of Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Winnipeg, wrote a very important article: Should you Feed Geese in the Winter?
Mary Lou Simms wrote a lovely tribute for her friend, King. Her story was published in the Birmingham News: Death of Beloved Goose Stills Years of Grace.

We also created a blog for our Mexico trip. You may FOLLOW THE BLOG HERE.

Bye for now and thanks for visiting our blog!

HONK! HONK!

Geese are our friends ...

2009-01-18T21:35:00.001-06:00

Very nice article about geese:

GEESE ARE OUR FRIENDS, NOT ENEMIES

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T15:39:00.002-06:00

Love Canada Geese wishes everyone a very happy New Year! We also sincerely thank all of you who supported us with your donations and your purchases from our website. We are very grateful for your support. We also thank all of you who shared your stories, photos, poems and artwork with us. Our website would not be as inspiring without your contributions.

We have updated our website with two new stories. We have also discounted the price of our 2009 calendar so it's a good time to get some for yourself and your family and friends to enjoy all year long.

This entry will be the last for the year. We'll be back when the first goose returns to herald the spring in March. Thank you for visiting our blog and our website and have the very best New Year!

Choo and Earl Rosenbloom

PS. If you'd like to begin the story of the eight geese who were stranded at our pond, please CLICK HERE.

Joe and his friends and the ducks of the indoor pond

2008-12-30T18:16:00.015-06:00

Joe's three friends from his flock are with him at the indoor pond. They wear colored plastic leg bands placed by Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center. We don't really know what these bands represent but we think they're to inform Fort Whyte Alive(FWA) that these three geese are supposed to be released to the FWA lakes in the spring. I discussed this banding with Sabrina, who is the supervisor of Wildlife Haven, and also discussed it with an employee of FWA and received conflicting answers. Sabrina is of the opinion that the bands were supposed to be removed weeks ago and the three geese are supposed to be released in spring with all the other geese who are in the indoor pond. That's a real concern because Joe will never be able to fly again and some of the other geese do not appear to be releasable, as well, due to the condition of their wings. Also, FWA's NO-FEEDING POLICIES will be deadly for these geese as they cannot fly. The FWA employee informed us that none of the waterfowl can be released to the wild and they will all be taken to Richardson Farm in the spring, where they'll be looked after until freeze-up. It was a relief to hear that and we hope she is right.

The videoclip shows the ducks of FWA's indoor pond. There are about half a dozen wood ducks and an equal number of mallards, ruddy ducks (small ducks with large heads and white striped cheeks. The males are sporting their winter colors which is gray brown with a gray bill. In spring, they're really colorful with baby blue bills), green winged teals (tiny ducks; males with chestnut heads and green cheek patch) and a couple of northern pintails (large long ducks with long tails). The ducks are the most peaceful members of the indoor pond.

The videoclip above shows Joe (left) with his friend (Ms. Green), who wears a green band placed by Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center. If you look closely at Ms. Green's left wing, you'll see that she is missing some primaries. Joe and Ms Green are always seen together and we have identified her as the SAME GOOSE WHO USED TO HANG OU T WITH RAHM.

The goose on the right wears an orange colored band (we named her Orange) and appears to be in the best shape of the five grounded geese from the original flock of eight.

The goose on the left wears a blue band (we named him Blue) and he is one of Joe's friends from the original flock of eight. You can see that he appears to be in the middle of molt with loose feathers and a raggedy appearance. We hope he'll re-grow his flight feathers while he's overwintering at the indoor pond because we are unsure what will happen to him and the other two geese in the spring.

Our website has been updated for the New Year!

2008-12-29T22:18:00.004-06:00

We have just updated our website for the New Year with two new stories. We have also discounted the price of our 2009 calendar.

Please visit us at:

LOVE CANADA GEESE

See you there!

PS: We'll be back tomorrow with a new post for the blog.

Garden Grove Pond: A comforting discovery

2008-12-27T18:48:00.006-06:00

This afternoon, we decided to drive up to Garden Grove, which is in the north end of town to feed the lone goose who is stranded over here for the winter. We had visited only four days ago but decided to visit again because of the milder temperatures.

Last Tuesday, we had trudged through calf-high snow to get to the feed spot. I told myself we'd bring a snow shovel the next time we visit to thin out the snow for the goose. So we carried a small shovel but when we arrived at the feed area beneath the tree, we could see no goose tracks in the snow. There were pigeon tracks all over the area. My heart sank.

Earl said the goose was gone. I was afraid he might be right but to be on the safe side, placed a large pile of cracked corn beneath the tree anyway. As I was doing that, someone called out, "Thanks!" and a lady walked down to us from her pond-front house. The feed spot is located directly down from her backyard.

She introduced herself as Cindy and told us the goose had been here yesterday. We had received an inch of snow overnight and that had covered most of yesterday's tracks. Cindy and her family captured this goose's mate, who had a broken wing, and transported him to The Humane Society, which is the drop off station for animals destined for Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center. This goose, though not injured, was too weak to fly south and after the capture of her mate, became wary and would fly off whenever approached. Cindy and her family has been feeding them all this while.

We were so relieved and glad to meet Cindy. In these trying times, it's wonderful to know that there are still people who care. The goose is in good hands and we left feeling good about that.

If you'd like to read our first entry about the geese of Garden Grove, please CLICK HERE.

If you're a new visitor to the blog and would like to know more about us, please visit us at LOVE CANADA GEESE.

Merry Christmas from WINTERPEG!

2008-12-25T16:16:00.008-06:00

When I was growing up in Malaysia, I always dreamed of a white Christmas because there was never any snow anywhere in the country. I always imagined how a white Christmas would be like. Since moving to Winnipeg in the year 2000, I've not had to dream anymore. We've had a white Christmas every single year that I've been here. The white landscape with the twinkling night lights is a real charmer and we can see how it inspired Irving Berlin to write this beautiful song.

Candy Cane Lane

Polar Bear Lane

Reindeer Lane

Hope you enjoyed our little Christmas trip. May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmasses be white.

The trumpeter swans of the indoor pond

2008-12-24T15:47:00.013-06:00

There's a pair of magnificent and rather bossy trumpeter swans at Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond. When Joe was introduced to the birds November 22, he got along with all the ducks and the lone sandhill crane but not this trumpeter pair. We videoclipped Joe upon his arrival at his indoor home. From the two entries above, you'll understand why we named the trumpeters The Nasties and how worried we were about Joe that day.

Joe is doing quite well now. Nineteen Canada geese have joined him, including three from his own flock so he has plenty of company. The Nasties are still bossy but they're outnumbered by the geese (44 geese of three kinds) and while they may occasionally bully a goose till he or she flees in terror, they've calmed down a lot.
Mr. Nasty is almost always found in the feed area. The sandhill crane dominates the feed platter, often standing right in the middle of the grain (see photo to the left). There's no clearer sign that he's boss than his dominance over the food. Mr. Nasty stands to one side. He feeds but does so in deference to the sandhill crane, stretching out his long graceful neck to nibble on the grain, never marching up to the crane.

Mrs. Nasty is often not beside her cob (Mr. Nasty). She likes to swim in the adjacent pond to the left. Unfortunately, that pond is separated from the feed area by a concrete curb. When she wants to feed, she has a very hard time getting over the barrier, even though the barrier is only 8-10 inches high. She swims back and forth, pushing her beautiful chest against the curb, attempting to push her body up and over it. Often, it takes her more than twenty minutes to get over it to join her cob (photo above shows her trying to get over the curb). We've never figured out why she doesn't simply stand up and walk over the curb.

The videoclip below shows a happy Mrs. Nasty, reunited with her cob after struggling for twenty minutes to get over the curb!

We wish all of you a very safe and happy holiday season! Merry Christmas!

Garden Grove Pond Update

2008-12-23T21:23:00.006-06:00

It's been more than two weeks since we visited the geese at Garden Grove Pond. We wrote about them in a December 7 post.

During the last two weeks, I had come down with a cold and the weather had taken a spiralling downward dive to the minus 20s with dangerous windchills in the minus 40s.

It was milder today with a high of 6F so we decided it was time we checked on them. The last time we were there, we met Margaret Jergens, a kind lady who had been caring for them. We had left with a feeling of relief that someone who lived in the area cared about them and was looking out for them. We had also left her a bag of corn.

As soon as we arrived today, I spotted a goose feeding at the base of a tree. We had placed cracked corn there the last time. Today, we trudged through very deep snow across the frozen pond and looked for the other goose. From a distance, this goose did not appear to have any wing injuries. Where was the injured goose? Deep boot tracks in the snow revealed that someone else had made the same trudge to the tree recently. We didn't see another goose anywhere. When we were about thirty feet away from the goose, it suddenly flew low above the ice, disappearing around the bend. We noticed that it had been feeding on corn that someone else had left (we learned today that Debbie, our friend who lives in the north end of town, had dropped off food yesterday) but we added another large pile and also uncovered corn buried beneath the snow.

Could this goose be the mate of the injured goose? The last time we visited, we noticed that the gander was injured but his goose was not. If someone had captured him, why was she hanging around if she could fly? Her flight muscles could have atrophied during the time she remained with her injured mate. We had assisted with the capture of another goose who could fly low December 9. The fact that she had remained meant that she could not migrate. She will remain over the winter.

If we can capture her, she can overwinter in an indoor pond. However, there are three problems. First, she is in a very open area, making capture extremely difficult as she can simply fly away from us. Second, the snow is very deep, making it difficult for us to run in it. Third, the extremely low temperatures make it hard for us to remain outside for long. We will have to wait and see what we can do to help this goose. We'll contact Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre tomorrow.

The tundra swans of the indoor pond

2008-12-22T19:27:00.012-06:00

Fort Whyte Alive's Waterfowl Display indoor pond is a lively little place and a fun way to spend the time during the winter when the weather is frigid. It is only open from November through April. The inhabitants include a pair of trumpeter swans, a pair of tundra swans, twenty Canada geese of all races, fourteen white and blue phased snow geese, ten greater white-fronted geese and about twenty ducks of all kinds. It's interesting to watch their interactions with each other and see how they get along in this little pond.

This pair of tundra swans arrived the week after Joe's arrival to the pond. For the first couple of weeks, we hardly heard a sound from them and they always appeared to be stationary. They were and are always together, side by side, a picture perfect pair of lovebirds.

When they began moving about, we realized that the cob (male) had a very bad limp in his left foot. You can see from the picture on the left that he's sitting on a step while struggling to get to the food area.

A tundra swan cob struggles to get down the steps.

Unlike the pair of trumpeter swans, the tundra swan couple are quite amiable toward the other birds. They know who's boss, too, and avoid confrontations with the sandhill crane and the trumpeters but they're generally well liked among the geese and ducks.

If you'd like to read our blog from the very beginning when eight geese showed up at our pond after all our geese had gone south, please CLICK HERE.

We'll post a videoclip and photo of the trumpeters tomorrow. In the meantime, Happy Hannukah and thanks for joining us!

Feed time at Fort Whyte Alive's indoor pond

2008-12-21T19:30:00.007-06:00

When we arrived at the indoor pond yesterday, all the food was gone. A few minutes later, a worker arrived with a bucket of wheat and we had a good time watching the hungry birds go for the food.

Here's Pat, the goose who was constantly attacked by all the others, except the ducks, last Friday. She was the first goose to get to the food but was unfortunately pecked by the sandhill crane, who is the BIG BOSS of the pond. Ouch! It must be terribly painful to be pecked at by such a sharp bill!

However, Pat is undeterred. She must be awfully hungry. Thankfully, she was not attacked today except when she was feeding.

The indoor pond and the attacked goose

2008-12-19T19:02:00.012-06:00

Three fawns at Fort Whyte Alive

We visited Joe and his three friends at the indoor pond of Fort Whyte Alive today. They're all doing very well.

Joe's three friends wear colored foot bands placed by Wildlife Haven. That probably means they'll be released in the spring. That concerns us because we can clearly see a few shafts, minus the feathers, on the green banded goose. We hope they grow into feathers during the winter. We don't want these geese to be released into the lakes of Fort Whyte Alive if they're unable to fly. They'll starve in the winter and then be attacked by predators. So we've been keeping a close eye on them during our visits. We haven't been able to get good photos of them but as soon as we do, we'll post them on the blog.

During our visit today, a Richardson Canada goose was the brunt of attacks from the other geese. We had observed earlier that some of her tail feathers were missing and her feathers appeared to be tattered. After seeing the attacks on her, we could understand how she got this way. She ran around in fright, even diving beneath the metal grate several times. She was also attacked by The Nasties, the pair of trumpeter swans who had attacked Joe the first day he arrived. After ten minutes, the attacks subsided and the poor goose was able to bathe and preen. We don't know what triggered the attacks because this is the first time we've seen such a widespread attack on one goose by her own kind. We named her Pat and we hope she'll be alright the next time we visit.

Call of the Greater White Fronted Geese

Heated Bird Bath Caution

2008-12-19T18:47:00.004-06:00

Since we put out the heated bird bath, I've been concerned about our birds turning into little balls of ice after bathing in it at such low temperatures. So I did some online research about it and also contacted Gene from Wild-Bird-Watching.com.
Gene feels that it's dangerous for birds to be bathing in water when the temperature is so low. He suggested that we add river rocks to the bowl and to make sure it's very shallow so the birds can't splash about in it.
We'll be doing that beginning tomorrow. We don't want our little friends to freeze to death. They're such a joy to watch from the comfort and warmth of the inside of our house. They're a cheerful sight when they're busy feeding from the suet basket and feeders and when they're enjoying their little heated bird bath. It doesn't take a lot to give them something to be happy about.

FOR THE BIRDS: Suet and a heated bird bath

2008-12-17T21:44:00.006-06:00

NUTRITIOUS AND DELICIOUS SUET

Since we don't have any goose news to share with you today, I thought I'd share my favorite suet recipe with those of you who live in northern climes. Our birds go crazy for it and I usually have two suet cages filled with it. We've been experiencing some bone chilling weather up here with highs in the -20s (Celcius) (-17F) and windchills in the -40s (when it gets this low, Celcius and Fahrenheit are about the same) so the suet freezes very quickly. I usually put one out and leave the other one indoors, then bring the frozen outdoor suet inside to thaw out the next morning and replace it with the indoor suet that's soft. It only takes about five minutes to mix and your birds will thank you for it:

RECIPE:

Cream together 1 cup vegetable shortening and 1 cup peanut butter. Add 1 cup flour and 3 cups cornmeal. This will be enough to fill one suet cage.

If you live in a very cold climate like ours, you can put the suet out immediately because it will harden right away. If not, you may chill the suet in the refrigerator before setting it out.

HEATED BIRD BATH

We purchased a Farm Innovators Clamp-On heated birdbath a few days ago and boy, do the birds love it! In the picture above, the birds were enjoying their bird bath when the temperature was -17F (-27C)! The water remains open until -20F (-28C) so it's a great little gadget for frigid climates like ours. Without a heated birdbath, birds eat snow to get the water they need but you can just imagine eating snow when the ambien temperature is -17F! The temperature of the water in the heated bath is about 50 - 60 F so it's like a little spa for the birds. They're on it as soon as we place it out in the morning. We empty it out and bring it in at sunset.

Conversation with the President of Fort Whyte Alive

2008-12-16T14:59:00.007-06:00

We have been very concerned about Fort Whyte Alive's (FWA) no-feeding policies toward their injured geese because by the time we discovered that there were injured geese at FWA, those geese had already been starving for at least three weeks. Therefore, we placed a call to Bill Elliott, President and CEO of FWA.

We raised two issues:

Since our recent publicity, we have received many calls from concerned residents about geese stranded in other ponds. These people had contacted FWA prior to contacting us because FWA has the reputation of being the authority on geese issues. In every instance, these people were told not to feed the geese because that would prevent them from flying south. They were told to do nothing about the geese. We told Mr. Elliott that we were concerned that such misleading advice was being given to the general public, considering that we are members and one of the goals of FWA is education. Geese who remain in our frigid climate at this time of year have problems that prevent them from flying south. Otherwise, they would have gone south long before. Mr. Elliott initially denied that his staff had been providing such information but when we insisted that it wasn't just us who had received calls but also staff at the two rehabilitation centers in town, and one of their own members, he said he'd instruct staff to advise callers to contact Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center.
We talked about the injured geese we had seen at FWA and insisted that they should be fed because they are unable to fly out to find food. Mr. Elliott was adamantly opposed to any sort of feeding of free-ranging animals at FWA, even though there's a wild bird feeding station with feeders stocked with sunflower seeds at the center. We volunteered to feed the geese and also to provide the feed. We also volunteered to get a team together to capture the injured geese. He said doing that would send the wrong message to the public that they should help all wild animals and that there are thousands of injured animals out there. We agreed that there are thousands of injured wild animals. However, we said that we were not talking about trying to save every injured wild animal. The fact is that we know there are injured geese at FWA and he knows about that, too. It's only human nature (ironically,HUMAN NATURE is FWA's slogan) to help animals that we can see who are in distress. He said we were taking away food from predators by doing that. This is nature's way, he insisted. Mr. Elliott ended the conversation at that point. The conversation lasted less than five minutes.

So we were successful on one count but not on the other. We are strategizing our next move.

Fort Whyte Alive's injured geese

2008-12-12T20:10:00.007-06:00

Friday, December 12, 2008

The injured geese of Fort Whyte Alive have vanished.

In the photos below, taken November 26, there were ten geese, at least four with wing injuries.

Ten days ago, there were five geese. Last Monday, there were three. Now there are none.

It is FWA's policy to allow nature to take care of itself, which means, unfortunately and tragically for these geese, starvation and/ or predation. There was no way for them to find food in this inhospitable climate, a climate they found themselves stranded in due to their great handicap.
When temperatures dropped precipitously recently, down to minus 28, they succumbed, unable to keep their starved and injured bodies alive. Then, the predators probably moved in.

Now the lake with its small aerated open area stands desolate amid a snow and wind swept, forbidding landscape. Only sad memories of the geese remain.

Ace Burpee's G Team to the rescue - AGAIN!

2008-12-10T20:39:00.007-06:00

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008

Hot103 Radio host Ace Burpee and his G Unit (not sure if G stands for Geese but I guess it might) which is made up of Ace, Chrissy (Ace's sidekick on the morning radio talk show), LTI (Lloyd The Intern), and Dan, Stewart and Sabrina of Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre, and the University of Manitoba track and field superstars Quin Ferguson and Chris Belof braved the snow and bitter COLD to rescue two more injured geese from the Whyte Ridge Pond yesterday. The high for the day was -18C (0F) and with a wind, felt like minus you don't really want to know what. You can see how cold it was when you see how these guys were dressed on this rescue expedition.

Please CLICK HERE FOR ACE'S BLOG WITH VIDEOCLIP OF THE RESCUE.

Two of the four geese flew away during the rescue. When we visited the pond this morning, they hadn't returned. We hope they have flown south. In case they decide to return, we added more grain at their usual feeding spot and we'll keep an eye out for them for a week or so.

Sadly, the goose with the broken wing had to be euthanized. He had an open fracture with bone protruding and was probably in a great deal of pain. The other captured goose may also have to be euthanized because of a broken wing and swelling at the break.

We received about 4 inches of snow today and the whiteness of the snow stretches bleakly across the frozen pond which is now a blank white canvas without the geese. We miss the geese and feel sad for them, for the cruel hands of fate that brought them to this pond because of the desperate predicament they found themselves in. Thankfully, a caring person noticed them and brought their plight to our attention so that they could at least be fed and then rescued. Ace Burpee and his team has shown that kindness and humanitarian deeds can warm the saddest hearts on the most bitterly cold days and that if enough people care and work together, we can accomplish beautiful things.

In memory of the four geese

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Rahm, another goose rescue, and the pair of geese at West Coast Motors

2008-12-09T20:38:00.014-06:00

Rahm, lying down, with friends. November 24, 08

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

We were elated to hear from Wildlife Rescue Network yesterday that Rahm is settling in very well in her new home with her new flock mates. The vet examined Rahm last Friday and diagnosed that her injury was old. She will never fly again and so she will live permanently at her new home. However, she will have plenty of company with the other geese who are unable to fly. This is a wonderful way to conclude our story about Rahm and we thank Ace Burpee and his team and Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre for their tremendous effort in capturing Rahm and his three friends. We thank Wildlife Rescue Network for saving his life and for giving him a good home because he would have been euthanized as he is not releasable.

If you haven't done so, please take a look at Ace Burpee's PHOTOS OF THE FIRST GOOSE RESCUE and VIDEOCLIP OF THE FIRST GOOSE RESCUE. Rahm was the first goose to be captured in that rescue.

This morning, we assisted Lisa Tretiak of Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre with the rescue of another goose stranded at the compound of CN rail. There were no visible signs of injury to this goose. She was able to lift a few feet off the ground so we had to chase her down but she wasn't able to take off to the skies. Lisa feels that she was simply malnourished and did not have the muscles for migration flight. How she became so malnourished is difficult to determine but we guess she might have remained with a mate, who died, and both starved. Lisa took her to the zoo, where they have an indoor pond for recuperating waterfowl. She should be able to fly in the spring. It was a good and productive morning for us.

On a sad note, the pair of geese who used to hang out around West Coast Motors has vanished. We have not seen them since last Wednesday. There has been no tracks in the snow. Below is a very short videoclip of them, the last time we saw them, December 3rd, 2008. We will continue to place grain at the usual spot and hope to see them soon. It was impossible to attempt a rescue because of the dangerous location they were at with a very busy street beside their favorite spot.

We will be back tomorrow with another rescue update that we just learned about tonight.

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A devoted Canada geese pair at Garden Grove Pond

2008-12-07T21:36:00.008-06:00

Sunday, December 7, 2008

We received a phone call from a concerned gentleman by the name of Jay on Thursday regarding four geese stranded on a pond in Garden Grove. Jay said he had contacted Fort Whyte Alive about the geese and they had advised him not to feed them because they would not fly south and to do nothing about the geese. He didn't think that was the right thing to do because he remembered the recent news coverage about our eight stranded geese. He searched online and found our names, dialed 411 to get our phone number and contacted us.

We were not shocked to hear Fort Whyte Alive's advice because several other people had told us the same thing. We were saddened because such advise causes untold suffering to the geese. Geese that can fly have already gone south. We feed our geese from the end of March till they leave and every one of them left November 7. The only geese remaining in ponds at this time are those with wing injuries and their families who have decided to remain with them. To advise concerned folks not to feed the geese is to cause them to starve to death, a very sad and tragic fate that can so easily be avoided by the simple and kind act of offering them grain. So we advised Jay to bring them wild bird seed if he was unable to bring them cracked corn. He said the ice was thin on that particular pond and advised us not to get on it. And we advised him to contact Lisa at Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre about a possible rescue though with thin ice, we doubted that we could rescue these geese. In addition to offering food, Lisa also advised him to bring the geese hot water to drink. Now that's caring.

Since Garden Grove is 16 km from our house, we tried to contact Debbie, a lady who had contacted us about two geese with broken wings near her home. Debbie is closer to Garden Grove than we are so I tried, in vain, to contact her to feed the geese Thursday and Friday.

With windchills expected to go down to -31 Friday night, I couldn't sleep worrying about the geese so on Saturday, with a high of -4F, we drove up to Garden Grove Pond. We spotted two geese hunkered down on the opposite shore and remembering Jay's advice about the thin ice, we trudged between tall stands of dried cattails and the fence line of houses to get to the pair, who moved away a short distance as soon as we approached. I could see immediately that the gander had a very bad broken left wing. His mate appeared to be fine. Where were the other two, though? We hope they flew away. I decided to go to them rather than place the grain on our shore because in very cold weather, geese need to hunker down to prevent heat from escaping and I didn't want to jeopardize their lives by placing food on our side of the shore.

They perked up as soon as they saw us emptying our bag of cracked corn on to the base of a tree and they were chowing down as soon as we turned our backs to return to the other shore. That sight warmed our hearts on this frigid day and we felt that we had done the right thing by driving all the way up here to take care of them. They'll have to be fed through the winter because there's no way to capture them with the thin ice.

Just before we drove out, I noticed a lot of birds in the front yard of a corner house across the street from the pond. A lot of birds typically means bird feeders and that usually means a kind and caring person so despite protests from Earl (he is adverse to my knocking on stranger's doors!), I walked up and rang the door bell.

A slender lady responded and I informed her about the two geese. She said she knew about them. She and her husband had been feeding them but she said only one would come across the pond to feed and she was worried about the missing two. She said they even brought hot water to the geese and they've fed injured geese throughout the winter in previous years. When I knocked on her door, I had expected to meet a kindly person and she and her husband was all that, and more. I hugged her with relief and gratitude for her kindness and brought her a bag of cracked corn because all she had was wild bird seed.

There's nothing like kindness and caring to warm hearts on a blistery cold day in Winnipeg.

Rahm goes home and the other geese with broken wings

2008-12-05T15:01:00.022-06:00

Friday, December 5, 2008

First, the good news. Rahm is going to his new home at Wildlife Rescue Network today. He will live with twelve other non-releasable geese and hopefully, live a good, long, healthy life. One of the twelve geese at the shelter has resided there for the last twenty years. Of the seven geese, we feel that Rahm has the most promising future so we're very happy for him. (Photo of Rahm and his mate to the left)

Rahm's trip to his new home marks the end of the story of the eight geese who were stranded in our pond and who inspired the community to come together and help them, showing the world that it takes a village. Winnipeg is a kind and compassionate large "village."

We wish to thank our friends, Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center, Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Ace Burpee and his athletic team, Forte Whyte Alive, Wildlife Rescue Network for their assistance with capturing and caring for the geese. We would also like to thank everyone who called to give us their support and encouragement.

Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Center, Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Cen ter and Wildlife Rescue Network are all wonderful causes to support. They do a lot for animals with very little and they can use your support.

Of course, the story of the remaining six geese is not over. Joe and his three friends are spending the winter at the indoor pond at Fort Whyte Alive. The remaining two geese have hopefully flown south safely and are enjoying the warmer climate with lots of food. We will not forget Joe and his three friends in the spring and we will bring you an update at that time.

Please CLICK HERE for Ace Burpee's photos of the rescue of the four geese in our pond. Ace is our favorite radio personality! He is a kind and compassionate person who goes all the way to save the lives of animals in distress, even with his extremely busy schedule. He sets a wonderful example for everyone, young and old. Thank you so much, Ace!

While it's been a good ending for our seven geese, possibly hundreds of other geese are stranded in Winnipeg at this time. With windchills expected to be in the -35 range for the next two days, their lives are in grave danger. Since our story hit the news, we have received calls from other concerned folks about geese stranded in other ponds.

We have been feeding the couple below at West Coast Motors for almost two weeks. The gander has a broken wing and his mate appears to be fine. They ventured outside the double steel gates of Fort Whyte Alive in search of food and that's how we discovered them. It was a very good thing they ventured outside the gates because feeding is not permitted at FWA. We contacted the office of West Coast Motors and they were very kind and allowed us to go on to their lot to feed the geese and also to try and capture them.

A concerned lady contacted us last Monday, December 1, about four geese (see video below) stranded on a pond close to our home. One of them has a definitely bad broken or dislocated right wing. We can't see any apparent problems with the other three and we think it's a small family with the gander suffering from the BW. His mate appears to be fine and the other two are possibly their children. Unfortunately, we only learned about them five days ago. They had gone without food for more than three weeks. Once again, Ace Burpee and his G Team are coming to the aid of the weak and defenseless. They're planning a rescue soon and they deserve a MEDAL OF HONOR.

The photos below show crippled geese in Fort Whyte Alive. In these two photos, you can see that two geese have obvious wing injuries and are unable to fly. Sadly and tragically, FWA prohibits the feeding and capture of animals on their compound. This means that these geese are starving and will die of either starvation or predation or both.

We received a call from a concerned gentleman yesterday. Four geese are stranded at another pond in the NW part of the city. This is quite a long distance from our home and we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get people who live closer to feed them so we will visit them tomorrow.

On a much lighter and happier note, our new friend, Guy Stoye, sent us an extraordinarily exquisite gift that touched us deeply and inspires us to continue to be the voice for Canada geese everywhere. Thank you so much, Guy, for your love and passion for the geese and for putting your love and passion for them into this magnificent three-dimensional creation that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. More details ....

We will update this blog Sunday night. Thanks for visiting and have a good weekend. If you're following this blog, kindly click on FOLLOW THIS BLOG on the top left-hand corner of this page. You may post your photos, too, if you wish. It makes this blog feel more like home when you do. Thanks!

Touched by geese

2008-12-01T22:40:00.024-06:00

Thursday, November 27, 2008

This morning, Wildlife Haven informed us that they are planning to transport our four geese to Fort Whyte Alive tomorrow to join Joe. They tell us that FWA will take the three who are missing their primaries but probably not Rahm, due to the condition of his wing. We had met a wonderful couple who lived out in the country last Sunday. They had contacted us when our story was aired on Global TV and offered to adopt the crippled geese. They even brought grain because they were worried about our seven geese. We informed Wildlife Haven that we wanted to take Rahm to our friends in the country but they won't release him to us unless we present them with a permit from Manitoba Conservation. Wow! I have a feeling that such a permit is not easy to obtain. It`s ironic that it`s easy to obtain a hunting license to go out and kill or maim animals but it`s incredibly difficult to obtain a permit to protect and care for animals. Such is the sad and twisted society in which we live. There are other ironies in our world such as government advising us against feeding wild animals but promoting the hunting of the same. Worse than that is the fact that this propaganda is succeeding and hoodwinking the public. Someday, in my lifetime, I hope everyone sees the truth.

Our devoted goose couple are foraging near the grain piles we left for them on the used car lot. We'd spotted them at this same lot last Sunday. They must not be eating the grain if I can spot the piles as we`re driving by! Why not? It`s utterly perplexing to me. I left them the grain four days ago. They must be starving. There`s no food out there other than what we brought them. Perhaps they are rationing the food. That's a first, too! Or maybe I'm seeing things! That's probably what it is.

I spot three geese looking for food around a pile of snow along a dirt road, get out, and pour them a pile of grain. Yes, we drive around with bags of grain in our car, ready for any opportunity to feed our friends. They're wary and quickly hunker down behind the pile of snow. I'm not sure if they're injured. I hope they're fine.

I've been wondering why we're seeing so many crippled geese. Perhaps it's due to the fact that we `re still in Winnipeg in late November. Usually, we spend part of the winter in the south but this year, we`ve been busy with the eight geese who showed up on our pond November 16. Before their story can even come to a conclusion, I`m discovering crippled geese all over the place. It`s tragic and heartbreaking. I think they won`t make it, even with us feeding them because they`re weak to begin with and our winters are severe. There are also a lot of predators lurking out there, watching and waiting for the right moment to get them. Theirs is a dangerous world, made more dangerous by Man. There`s no question in my mind that hunting must be banned. These crippled geese are a stark reminder of the brutality of hunting. Three states in Australia have banned waterfowl hunting and guess what? There`s been no drastic spike in waterfowl populations, despite the lies that hunters and government agencies continue to tell. Banning sport hunting is the humane and moral thing to do. It`s the right thing to do.

We returned to our pond to see if we could find the duck and also to see if the two geese had returned after their panicked flight on Tuesday. We had received about 2 cm of snow this morning and it covered old tracks. There were no duck tracks on the east side of the pond. I have a dreadful feeling in my stomach that the poor little duck is gone, possibly taken by a dog or another predator.

We made our way to the location where we used to place grain and saw, to our surprise, fresh goose foot prints leading up to the grain. The snow that covered the grain had been uncovered by the geese. These geese knew exactly where the food had been placed, even though it had been covered by snow. Two sets of prints led from the backyard where the seven geese used to rest, directly to the grain. The foot prints led away from the grain and then stopped. There`s no doubt in my mind that these tracks belong to the two geese who flew away on Tuesday. It was just too much of a coincidence that some other geese would walk up to the exact backyard that our seven had used and then walk directly up to the place where we`d always fed them. How would they know there was grain beneath the snow? We scanned the pond and backyards for the two geese but there was no sign of them. Obviously, they had returned earlier to look for their mates and upon discovering that they were gone, fed, and then left. We were touched and moved to tears.

Geese foot prints lead from the backyard of the vacant house that our seven used to loaf at and directly to the pile of grain. Some people had walked across the tracks. You can see their tracks crossing the goose prints.

Goodbye, dear geese! We know you leave in sadness at having to leave your loved ones behind but we wish you a safe journey and a safe winter in your southern home. May you return in good health in the spring. We will miss you. You have touched every one of us by your courage and devotion to your mates during times of great adversity. Farewell, my friends!

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Joe has many new friends of all kinds!

2008-12-01T21:08:00.036-06:00

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Imagine our surprise when we saw Joe`s many new friends! Fourteen Canada geese, fourteen snow geese and ten Greater white-fronted geese joined him today! The pond was so crowded! Joe did not appear to like this new company. He hissed at a couple of Canadas who approached him and even rushed them away. We thought he was lonely but it looks like he prefers his own company.

A pair of gentle and very quiet tundra swans graced the pond with their loveliness. Unlike The Nasties, this gorgeous pair got along with everyone. Mr. Nasty picked a fight with a snow goose and ran back to his mate, trumpeting and spreading his massive wings in triumph. He`s quite the show boat and I`m beginning to enjoy listening to his musical trumpeting, now that Joe is doing alright. We have not noticed either of The Nasties being mean to Joe since his first day.

A beautiful Greater white-fronted goose. CLICK ON THIS LINK to learn more about them and to hear their call.

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Ace Burpee and his team to the rescue!! A BIG surprise!

2008-11-30T22:21:00.021-06:00

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Well, we were surprised to see such a large number of people gathered at the park to catch one goose and one mallard! Sabrina from Wildlife Haven had called to inform me that Ace Burpee, a Winnipeg radio personality, was going to bring his "team" to the park for the rescue.

The members of Wildlife Haven consisted of Sabrina, Dan and Stewart. Our friend, Claudia was there as well. Ace Burpee was there with Chris Zuk who was filming the rescue, I believe. Ace's team consisted of University of Manitoba Bison football safety Teague Sherman and DL Wyatt Jacobi as well as two U of MB track and field superstars, Quin Ferguson and Chris Belof. Twelve people assembled to capture a goose and a duck! For sure, we'd capture them. How could twelve people, including four super athletes, not be able to do so? Claudia and I felt sorry for the geese, though. They'd be so frightened. We'd grown to love them through this hardship.

We were standing around waiting for the athletes to arrive so Claudia, Earl and I went to the pond to look for the drake. There was no sign of him and I regretted not going for him when we saw him on Saturday. We were so focused on catching Rahm. He had walked out to the middle of the pond and we could have caught him. I sighed with sadness and guilt. He might have been killed by dogs running loose on the pond. There were always two in that area. Where was my priority, for heavens' sake? I will live with my regret for a long time but my little duck friend may be gone forever.

The athletes arrived and the big team separated into two groups, one group heading to the front of the houses and the other, to the backyards. The three of us (Claudia, Earl and me) didn't join in because there were already so many people and we didn't want to frighten our geese, who had grown to trust us. So we walked across the bridge.

Suddenly, five geese flew to the middle of the frozen pond, chased by a guy with a net. We dashed across the bridge with our sheets to block their paths and in the next moment, Rahm was flailing and stumbling into a stand of cattails on the shore (photo above) and there were five people around him. Soon, Sabrina was walking out with Rahm bundled up in a sheet. She said he was weak and collapsed when they cornered him. There wasn't any fight in him at all.

The guys began chasing the remaining five geese to find out if they could fly. Soon, they had caught two more geese!! And all the time, we'd thought there was only one goose to be caught!

As the three of us (Claudia, Earl and I) were unloading our sheets into the car, we heard frantic honking and then the fourth goose was being pursued by a lady with a net! We rushed to block his escape and he ran into the corner of the house opposite. S teward ran up and netted him, then spread his wings to show the missing primaries. Apparently, three of the six geese were flightless as well, even though they looked alright. They were missing their primary feathers. Wildlife Haven guessed that they might have been stuck to the ice and lost their primaries when they tried to dislodge themselves from the ice. I couldn't believe what I heard because there were three geese similarly afflicted, not one. I could understand that one goose could have lost his primaries to the ice, but three? I suspected some genetic problem. However, Wildlife Haven thinks they should re-grow their primaries and be able to fly again in the spring and that's good. But my worries nag at me.

The photo above shows the four geese loaded into the car.

Please CLICK HERE FOR ACE BURPEE'S BLOG WITH VIDEOCLIP.

The two remaining geese flew away. Claudia, Earl and I walked up to the top of the hill to see if they were on the field but there was no sign of them. We hoped they would be safe and that they'd fly south. We had grown very attached to this flock.

Dan of Wildlife Haven mentioned that the seven geese might not be related. They might have got together as a flock because of their similar predicaments. All I know is that Rahm has a mate and Joe was always the loner of the flock. I guess I will never know the relationship of the members of the flock.

After lunch, we visited Joe and observed the behavior of the sandhill crane and The Nasties. The crane approached the swans boldly and they cowered, slinking away with their necks bent in submission. It was quite funny to watch the pair of meanies being intimidated by the crane. The crane bossed Joe around, too. Joe got out of his way by hopping up one level. However, we preferred the crane's peaceful method of intimidation to The Nasties' vicious attack upon Joe that first day. The crane went to the feed dish, took a step up and stood right in the middle of it. He was King of the feed dish! Mrs. Nasty slunked up to the dish and timidly stretched her neck out to feed, keeping a wary eye on the crane.

It had been an exhausting day filled with plenty of surprises. Who would have guessed that so many in the flock could not fly?

Joe's third day at the indoor pond

2008-11-30T21:48:00.010-06:00

Monday, November 24, 2008

It's a mild November day with a high of -1C (30F) and sunny. It's good for the injured geese who are stranded here. Good for us, too.

On our way to visit Joe, I spotted our pair at the dealership as Earl drove down the highway. I also spotted the two piles of grain I'd left yesterday. I hope they're feeding from it. I've never known geese to turn down food.

Joe is getting more comfortable with his pond mates and his new home. He stood on one foot beside the waterfall, in the feed area. We'll begin calling this area the dining room. We get the feeling that the birds respect their dining place and keep it clean. Geese definitely respect their nests. You never see any poop on their nests. So perhaps they treat their feeding area with respect, too. Mr. Nasty wasn't hanging out in the dining room which happens to be his favorite pond. Joe was alone and close to the feed dish so he should have been able to feed in peace. Most of the ducks were sleeping peacefully. Mr and Mrs Nasty were in different ponds, minding their own business. All was well.

Joe's six friends or family (we're not sure how they're related, if they're related at all) were resting on the backyard of the third house when we arrived. They came up quite close to me, lying down to feed just a few feet away. I was pleasantly surprised. Their little hearts are so forgiving. How can anyone not love them?

The video above shows Joe on his third day.

Is Joe still alive? Oh, no, another goose with a broken wing!

2008-11-29T23:17:00.005-06:00

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Earl and I couldn't sleep last night, worrying about Joe and what we might expect to find when we visit him today. The swans had been so vicious they could have killed him! We named the pair Mr and Mrs Nasty. And that's an understatement! I had read E B White's The Trumpet of the Swan a few years ago and had since then, desired to see trumpeter swans and hear their calls. Now that I'd seen a pair of them and seen how badly they treated our Joe, I felt that I'd seen two trumpeters too many! Their triumph trumpeting to each other after beating up poor Joe didn't endear me to them, and I usually love watching geese triumph call to each other. I'd had a complete change of heart about trumpeters. I said a prayer for Joe's safety.

On our way to visit Joe, I noticed with dismay a goose with her right wing hanging down. Another goose with a broken wing stranded in Winnipeg! Oh, dear, the casualties were piling up and winter had not officially begun. We resolved to check her out on our way home.

We visibly held our breaths before we entered the indoor pond, expecting to either see Joe still cowering in fright beneath the metal grate, or worse, not even there because The Nasties' had killed him. To our surprise and relief, Joe was swimming on the top level pond. The indoor pond is made up of small rectangular ponds on three levels. How in the world did Joe manage to get out from under the grate to that top level with The Nasties' dominating the feed area? He had to get across the feed area to get to the top level. He looked fine. There wasn't a feather out of place and he appeared calm and relaxed. Mrs. Nasty was in the ground level pond adjacent to the feed area. We wondered if Joe had been able to feed since his arrival. Most of the birds were sleeping with their heads tucked into their wings. Mrs. Nasty appeared to be patrolling the ground level pond. Perhaps it was a matter of establishing the pecking order. It was obvious that the sandhill crane was on the very top, followed by the swans, the goose, and then the ducks. I would say the pecking order was established by the height of the birds with the tallest being boss. That would be the crane.

We stopped to look for the goose with the broken wing on our way home. I scanned the area with a pair of binoculars but didn't see her. We drove up a little way and stopped. I crossed the street and found that she was not alone. She had a mate and he was fine. He had decided to remain with her because she was unable to fly. They were digging into the dirt with their bills, poking around for anything they could find to eat. I doubt there was anything for them to eat. The grass was brown and dry and snow covered most of the landscape. Tearfully, I watched the devoted couple; the courageous and loyal gander who had decided to stay with his goose through thick and thin, and his goose, whose fate was grim. I placed grain for them in two piles and then left. It would be hard to feed them during the week as they had chosen a used car dealership for their home. We would only be able to feed them on Sundays. The dealership was also located along a very busy highway, making it difficult for us to visit them at night.

We rushed home to meet Karen and her husband, Leonard, a very compassionate and loving couple who had contacted us after watching our story on TV. They live out in the country and they said they'd care for the crippled geese, if we could capture them. They even brought grain and rye bread for the geese. The best thing to happen because of the publicity was the wonderful new friends we made.

We went back to the park to feed the remaining six geese. Today, they were much further out on the frozen pond than we've ever seen them. When they saw us, they approached us with very slow and halting steps. We knew that the memory of the chase and capture of their friend lingered. They were now suspicious of us and we felt terrible. They'd walked three miles to our pond in frigid weather and without food and now Joe was gone, captured by the people they thought they could trust. What could we say to comfort them?

Saturday, November 22, 2008: VIDEOCLIP OF JOE IN HIS NEW HOME!

2008-11-29T10:52:00.005-06:00

The videoclip above shows Joe when he was first released into the pond. It has to be viewed with Quicktime Player and views best after allowing to load and buffer the first time (views best on the second attempt to play it).

First rescue attempt

2008-11-28T21:21:00.017-06:00

Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's another bitterly cold day with a high of -8C (18F) and we met up with our friends at 1 PM to attempt a rescue. There was Earl and me, Claudia and her husband, Howard, and Dennis and his wife, Hilda. Lisa from Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre would join us later.

We brought two dog carriers, plenty of bedsheets and discussed strategy.

Claudia and I began feeding the geese, using bread and cracked corn to draw them up to us. As soon as they saw us, they got up from their resting spots on the opposite shore and ran across the ice to us with their wings spread. We felt sick to our stomachs to betray their trust in us but we rationalized that we were trying to save them. Rahm came up first. He laid down and gobbled up the bread and corn. Joe sat on the ice on the frozen pond, watching us warily. It was many long minutes before he got up to join the others.

Seeing that all the geese were feeding on the slope, Dennis began making his way down to the frozen pond. It wasn't our intention to get on the ice. Since their puddle froze up only yesterday, we were concerned about the thinness of the ice but Dennis wasn't too worried about it. He's a big guy, too.

I was busy feeding the geese and not concentrating on Dennis when I realized that Dennis had forced them to get up and walk away from the pond and up the hill. They began trotting, looking back at us, eyes wild with fear, with Claudia, Hilda, Howard and Dennis hot on their heels. I ran to get a bedsheet and joined the chase. Rahm and his mate broke away from the group and four geese ran in the direction of the field. We were soon chasing down Joe, who flapped his wings in vain to get a lift off.

"Chase him to the fences!" I called out to everyone and so we did, panting with the exertion. Joe panicked when he ran up against the fence, running sideways along the fenceline. Claudia, who can run quite fast, chased him into the fence of the corner house. He was cornered between the fences and the wall. I ran up and threw my bedsheet over him, then grabbed him around his body to prevent escape. He didn't struggle and Claudia and Dennis tossed their bedsheets over him as well.
I couldn't believe it! We'd caught Joe! I had been under the impression that he would be difficult to catch because of his wariness.

Dennis picked Joe up like a baby, all wrapped up in the bedsheet, while our friends brought the carrier and we placed Joe gently into it.

The rescue team above: From left - Howard, Lisa, Claudia, Hilda, Earl, Dennis and me (photographer).

We placed the carrier in the car and were making our way across the bridge when we spotted a lone duck walking on the east side frozen pond. Oh, no! I'd thought all the ducks had gone south and now it appears that one is left behind because he can't fly. He's the one I'd been trying to capture in the fall. He must be feeling so scared and lonely with all his friends gone. I felt so sorry for him.

We saw Rahm on the backyard of the third house and decided to try and capture him first. Our team broke into two with four of us going to the front of the house and the other three going along the shoreline to try and force Rahm into the house and grab him that way. As soon as he saw us advancing toward him, he and his mate flew onto the frozen pond! So much for our scheme!

We were exhausted and felt frost bitten in the numbing cold so we decided that we'd been successful enough for the day with the capture of Joe. We headed back to the east side pond to look for the duck but he had vanished. His tracks were all over the area but he was not. Where in the world could he have gone to? I wish we had gone out to catch him when we saw him because now there was no sign of him. With dogs running loose in that area, we were very worried for his safety.

Lisa looked over Joe and advised us to get him into the indoor pond as soon as possible. And so we did. He now shared his new home with a pair of trumpeter swans, a sandhill crane and about thirty ducks. Joe appeared to make himself at home right away, bathing vigorously and dunking himself in the water. He appeared not to notice the three large birds, even making his way to the little waterfall to enjoy the feel of the water splashing upon his back. He seemed to be quite happy in his new environment and we felt good.

Things took a sudden and abrupt turn for the worst when Joe began making his way toward the feeding area. One swan rushed at him with his wings spread and his large bill bared, stabbing at him and slapping at him with his mighty wings. He was easily four times Joe's size. Joe cowered and ran, but the other swan cornered him and began attacking him the same way, driving him from the feed area to the adjacent pond. We could only watch and gasp in horror at the attack. The bigger swan who was the cob (male swan), stood over poor Joe as if he was trying to drown him while pecking at him viciously and beating him up with his powerful wings. It was frightening to watch. Joe managed to escape by ducking under the metal grate where we stood. He swam to the inside corner of the metal grate and remained there, probably shaking in fright, while we ran out to look for the caretaker and inform her about the attack. When she came in, he had swum to the outer edge of the grate, though remaining within its safe confines. The swans could not get under the grate because of their large size. Thank goodness! We were worried that they'd kill Joe! Joe was a picture of fear and sadness with his head and neck slumped. That's how we left him, our little friend who'd been through so much that day.

We could not sleep, worrying about what we'd find the next day. He was our responsibility and we felt that we had let him down that day.

Sad day: Pond is completely frozen. 7 geese are left. All ducks gone south.

2008-11-28T20:59:00.010-06:00

Friday, November 21, 2008

We're in the news again today with the new development. CLICK HERE for the story. We were very pleased to know that the law firm had been feeding the geese and think of them as family because that's how we think of these beautiful beings, too, as our family. Up to now, I've assumed that they're all one family with Rahm having a mate. I've never seen Joe with a mate. He is always on his own, even though he is with the others. That's Joe's picture above.

A sad sight greeted us when we arrived at the pond at noon. The pool of water so preciously nurtured and maintained by the geese and ducks is gone, frozen by the extreme overnight lows. The ducks were all gone. They're little but they make their presence felt with their cheerful, gentle quacks and their enthusiastic welcoming flights to us. We missed seeing them waddle up in single file from the waterhole.

Only seven geese remained so now we know that the eighth goose was probably just tagging along. He or she might have flown in to join the geese and ducks and when the puddle froze, he or she decided to head south.

We decided to feed our seven geese on the opposite shore so that they would have a better view of predators. Six came up, spreading their wings on the way. I was surprised that Rahm was able to spread his wings. Joe lagged behind. I think Rahm is capable of low flight since he has control of both wings. Today, I also brought them a dish of water. They were wary of it, even though I'd placed some grain in it.

I spoke to a man who had rescued two geese from the ice last year and he mentioned that he had brought them wood chips to rest on to prevent frostbite. So I called Claudia and told her about it. I think we'll make them a wood chip bedding tomorrow if we can't capture them.

Claudia called at 8 PM. Would I like to accompany her to Petland to buy the wood chip bedding, she asked. We purchased two big bales and dragged the clumsy and heavy bags out in the dark, along the shoreline of houses, to where our geese rested on the ice. The sight of them resting beside their old waterhole made us feel very sad. It seemed as if they hoped, at any moment, that the ice would melt and they'd have their puddle back. We wished that would happen, too, but we knew it was not to be. We made a comfortable bed for them. They got up and ventured up toward the bed but didn't get on it. We hoped they would, for the sake of their feet.

New friends and new development!

2008-11-28T20:23:00.007-06:00

November 20, 2008

It's sunny with a high of -8C (18F). It was only 1F last night. Surely the puddle of water will be frozen over today. Every night, I go to bed worrying about the puddle freezing up. I don't know that even eight determined geese and twenty plus ducks will be able to keep it open much longer with such low temps.

Thanks to the publicity, we had received a good number of phone calls from concerned residents. Claudia Cramer was one of them and I contacted her this morning to find out if she could possibly help with a rescue attempt on Saturday. Since the news broke, Claudia had been going out to the park every morning to feed the geese. I'll say with certainty that Claudia is as worried as we are about the geese, bless her sweet and kind heart. She had observed that the puddle was in the sun and the houses shielded the geese from the cruel north wind.

The puddle is still open. Phew! Rahm and Joe came up to feed, leaving the others behind. They fed on Claudia's grain and bathed vigorously in the frigid water. Rahm walked very carefully and lifted his foot, trying to tuck it up into his body. It looked as if his feet were sensitive to the snow and ice and low temps. I was concerned because geese can suffer from frostbitten feet.

Alexandra Paul of the Winnipeg Free Press called in the late afternoon with a new development in the story. Turns out that lawyers and employees of the Ronald S. Ade Law Corporation had been feeding the geese, our geese, at Wilkes pond over the summer. They informed Alex that all their geese vanished after the ice and snow storm November 7 and they'd been wondering where they'd gone to because a couple of them had wing injuries that would have kept them grounded. When they saw us on the news and took a good look at the photos, they realized that their geese, their babies, had arrived at our pond. Since two geese were grounded, they had to have walked three miles (5 km) to our pond! I was taken by surprise, to say the least, but it was possible, because all our geese had gone south November 7 and their geese showed up November 16. It had taken them 9 days to get to our pond on foot. No wonder the poor babies were so exhausted and hungry!

We're in the newspapers, on radio and TV!

2008-11-26T23:21:00.008-06:00

November 19, 2008

We made the news!! Here's the LINK. I didn't like the headline because it was ignorant. The geese weren't ornery. They were stranded in Winnipeg through no fault of theirs. They were crippled and they needed help. Once again, the headline showed ignorance and lack of compassion for animals.

To our surprise, the phone rang off the hook all day with calls from CBC Radio for an interview, CTV News, CBC News and Global TV. We were surprised because we never imagined that a goose story would interest the media so much. After all, tens of thousands of geese use Winnipeg as their staging ground during migration and unfortunately and unfairly, the geese had been given a bad rap by the press.

I spent the morning being interviewed by Marilyn Mackie who also interviewed Lisa Tretiak of Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. The interview went well and I was pleased. We talked about the reason the eight geese had not migrated south and what we were doing to try and capture them.

The TV stations met us at the park and filmed us and our geese. Our story appeared on CTV News and Global TV. Please CLICK HERE for the CTV story and videoclip. The video can only be viewed using Internet Explorer browser.

Celeste Krochuk, a first grade teacher at Princess Margaret School in the north end of our city, contacted me because her thirty students were learning about Canada geese. She said she had discovered OUR WEBSITE in September and her kids were enjoying it. When they saw the story, they wanted to ask me questions. Could I be on the phone to be interviewed by the class? How could I say No to beautiful inquiring minds? The interview went really well and the kids asked good, thoughtful questions like: How did the geese get hurt? Why won't their friends or family fly south without them? How could they help the geese? The class decided to make up posters to inform people to look out for the geese and at the end of the interview, they sang us two lovely songs that they had composed about Canada geese. "Flap, flap, flap your wings" was sung to the tune of "Row, row, row your boat." Ms. Krochuk composed a whimsical melody to the words of the poem, "Something told the wild geese." The children moved us to tears.

The geese appeared to be nervous when the first two TV crews appeared to film them at noon but they seemed to be drawn to come real close to me when Global TV showed up at 4 PM. Perhaps it was the cracked corn. I had been feeding them hen scratch before. Perhaps they liked corn better. I don't know what it was but they all came up to feed within a few feet of me. Their closeness was exhilarating and I felt that I was being rewarded for offering my friendship to them. It had been a very tiring and exciting day but my time with the geese relaxed me. They were beautiful and precious beings and I wanted to do everything in my power to save them.

Post signs for geese with broken wings

2008-11-26T23:08:00.006-06:00

November 17, 2008

We realized that we needed to post signs at the park pond to inform park walkers, especially dog walkers, about the injured geese so I made two signs that said: ALERT GEESE WITH BROKEN WINGS IN POND. THEY CANNOT FLY. PLEASE KEEP YOUR DOGS ON LEASH. THANK YOU. Earl poses with our sign on the left.

As we were posting our first sign, a man came out of his house with a loose German shepherd bounding at his heels, then bounding and yapping at ours! So much for the sign! Before we could do anything to stop the dog, he was off to the races and chasing the geese who were standing on the frozen pond. They honked in alarm and ran as fast as their feet could carry them, wings flapping wildly. Fortunately, the dog was only interested in chasing them for fun and not for dinner and in the next few moments, he was running up the side of the pond and away to the field. Phew! We gave the owner an earful but unfortunately, he was deaf to our complains.

A Free Press photographer was waiting for us in our driveway when we returned home. Off to the park again for photos of us with our geese and photos of the geese.

One duck and two geese with broken wings. Oh, no!

2008-11-25T23:48:00.005-06:00

November 17, 2008

The high temp for the day is -7C (19F) with a low of -16C (3F). Surely the eight geese and fifty ducks will not be able to keep their little puddle of water open. I feel for them. It's a precious resource for them and I am so worried about the two injured geese. I also know that there's a duck with a broken or dislocated wing (photo on left) among the flock. I'd spotted him in the fall but was unable to catch him. I've caught a good number of geese over the last six years but ducks are harder to capture because they're small and fast. They outrun me and my husband.

Yesterday, I noticed that Rahm, the goose with his wing hanging down, has a sweet little mate. She trots beside him and behind him. Follows him wherever he goes. My heart goes out to the dear goose. The photo on the left shows Rahm and his mate.

All eight geese were lying hunkered down in the middle of the frozen pond when we arrived. They were trying to stay warm. It was 13F when we arrived but it felt much colder because of the stiff wind. I felt so sorry for them. Rahm was beside his mate, Joe with the others. At least half the ducks were gone, probably migrated south due to the rapidly shrinking waterhole.

Ducks flew up to feed, quacking noisily, as I spread grain on the snow. Their cheery welcome warmed me on this very cold day. As the geese began to feed and with a bedsheet in hand, I made my way slowly around them, hoping to be able to simply bend down and pick either Rahm or Joe up by surprise. That wasn't to be. The sentinels sounded their warning honks and before I could say "Hi!" all the ducks flew off the feed and the geese trotted down toward the ice which was still far too thin to walk upon safely.

My face was painfully frozen when we returned to the car. Earl suggested contacting the media to bring attention to the problem and perhaps the publicity would bring residents around to help us capture the injured geese.

As soon as we returned home, I called Wildlife Haven , spoke to Sabrina, who was new to the center. She said they were getting a lot of calls about crippled geese trapped in Winnipeg and they had no resources to go out and capture them all. She said they'd survive the cold but would die of starvation or predation. She also mentioned that some people fed them throughout the winter. It was important that they were fed. She suggested that we contact Winnipeg Fire Department, Winnipeg Humane Society, and Manitoba Conservation. Which I did. Frank at Manitoba Conservation mentioned that the geese were probably crippled by hunters. He said that strictly speaking, we would need a permit to capture even injured geese! I was shocked! What was the point of having rehabilitators if the public was not allowed to capture injured wild animals and bring them in? It was idiotic! I learned that Winnipeg Fire Department does not rescue ducks or geese and that was a disappointment because I've read many stories of animal rescues in the US where the Fire Department was involved. But not in Winnipeg! The Winnipeg Humane Society was also unable to help. Finally, I contacted the Winnipeg Free Press and the Winnipeg Sun and Alexandra Paul, the Free Press reporter, contacted me for more details. We didn't hold our breaths that our story would be published.

The last bit of open water on our pond, a precious resource for the crippled geese.

Sudden appearance of 8 geese, two with broken wings!

2008-11-21T17:52:00.008-06:00

Monday, November 16, 2008

When all our geese migrated south after a snow and ice storm on November 7, we were relieved. Although we would miss them over the winter, the fact that they'd all gone south meant that they were all able to fly south. That is crucial in Winnipeg, a city known for winters colder than Siberia!

Only about fifty ducks remained. They puddled about in the frigid waters. Ducks typically remain until the last bit of water freezes up so we were under the impression that everything was normal.
So you can imagine our surprise when we were greeted by eight Canada geese November 16. They shared the small remaining puddle with the fifty plus ducks and came up to feed when we fed the ducks. That's when we noticed, to our dismay, that two of the eight had severe wing injuries (see photo on the left). One had a left wing hanging down; we named him Rahm. The other had a dislocated left wing; we named him Joe.

There's never a good time to see an injured goose but this time of year is the absolute worst. With winter fast approaching and the pond freezing up, these geese would be stranded over our brutal winter. Geese can survive extreme cold weather if they're healthy but they need water and food. We could feed them through the winter but we were concerned about their health and their ability to withstand the severe temperatures.

My mind was filled with worries about these troubled geese when I checked my emails and received a note from Debbie, who lives in Winnipeg. She had found our website and wrote to me asking what to do about a pair of geese she'd seen walking down a side street. Their wings were hanging down, she said. When I first read her email, I thought she might have seen the same two injured geese we saw at our park today. I re-read her email and discovered that she lived in the north part of town but what a coincidence! Talk about a very strange and troubling day! I advised her to contact either Wildlife Haven or Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and to keep the geese fed because there's no food out there and they'll starve to death otherwise.

I had a hard time getting to sleep.