Silly Goose

Yesterday I get to work, and there is a Canada Goose right in the middle of the parking lot, in the way of where I wanted to park. The parking lot is located in between our building, and a huge pond next to a golf course, that a lot of birds use. After waiting for the goose to get out of the way, he never did, so I just parked in a spot a little further from the entrance of the building. I was getting my things gathered into my arms from my car seat, and by the time I opened my car door to get out, there was the goose! He just stood there looking at me. I didn't have any food with me, and even if I did I wouldn't have given him any! I was like "well hey, what's up?". He still just stood there while I got out of my car, and when I walked toward him he never walked away like he was scared, he just stood there! I started telling him he should go back to the pond, with his fam, and he didn't care. Then I walked toward the door to work and he just followed me... Little turd! I went inside assuming he would eventually give up on me and go back to the pond.

This was 8am. By 3pm it was time to go home, so when I get outside I notice some people hanging out by a car, and there was the goose! Just standing there on the sidewalk near the building. They were watching him and laughing, and I noticed the goose was sort of panting and drooling.....ummmm this did not look normal. I immediately knew he was dehydrated.... but why the heck did he not go to the pond only 15 yards away?? I brought out a cup of water to see how he would react to it, and started lightly pouring it on the ground next to him. He drank it mid-air really fast, and shook his head into it. He was definitely thirsty! (It was 92 degrees out, even hotter in the sun, and even hotter still, because it was on hot cement with no shade.) So then, in front of a few coworkers, I started chasing him. I chased him toward the lake (he didn't care at first but the more I pushed him the faster he walked--I even literally touched his back a couple of times!) and I'm sure it looked pretty hilarious. We got to the grass, and at this point he didn't know what to do, he didn't want to go in the water. (I didn't blame him, the water looks NASTY! The past week there has been a huge algal bloom, and the top of the water just looks like grass, not water; not to mention all the trash in the pond too) but I started tossing rocks in the pond to show him it was indeed water. He still wouldn't go in, so I again started pushing him with my foot until he finally flew, right over the water and into the middle of the pond.

I watched him dunk himself over and over, and fluffing his feathers and drinking heavily. He looked like he was in heaven! Hopefully he found his family, and I'm sure by natural selection he will die soon cuz he's so dumb... but at least he lived another day. So that, my friends, is the story of how I saved a silly goose.