A Canada goose got a chance to warm up from the snow inside a Calgary woman’s home after she noticed him flying low.
Cai’lin Kroon said something looked wrong with the bird, who was wandering around Copperfield on Friday.
“Once he walked down the street, I asked him to come over and sit with me, and he did,” she told Global News on Saturday.
“We sat side by side on my sidewalk for about 10 minutes before I decided to try to move. I thought he seemed to need help, and if I was going to get him help, I would need to contain him while I figured out who to call.”
Since it seemed thirsty and tame, Kroon invited it inside her home to eat peas and drink water.
Her husband was not thrilled about the decision and took their baby upstairs. She put their cats in a room.
While waiting for a wildlife rescue group to pick up the animal, Kroon said she spent a couple of hours with the goose, reading it a book — planning to use it as a shield in case the bird attacked.
The goose pecked at the pages of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” as she read.
“I don’t know how much he liked it,” she said.
“We bonded and he did not attack me, which was very polite. I tried to be very respectful of him and his space, and I didn’t really have to force him to do anything. When I asked him to go into the bathroom, he obliged.”
Kroon knows geese can be aggressive and advises people to call the appropriate rescue facility if they are in a similar situation.
“I didn’t actually touch him at all until I had to lift him into the box,” she said. “Everything else I asked him to do, and he did it on his own.”
The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society says to watch wildlife from a distance to determine if it is injured or orphaned, contact the CWRS at 403-214-1312 or the City of Calgary at 311 if it needs help and carefully secure the animal while waiting for assistance.
“Normally, if you have wildlife you have to contain, you should put it in a quiet place,” Kroon said, “but I don’t have a garage, and he started honking when I wasn’t there. So I went in and read to him, and eventually, he curled up on my feet and was quite content.”
