Injured goose gets care from Arkansas-side staff
TEXARKANA, Ark. — One injured goose staying at Bobby Ferguson Park has social media and concerned citizens to thank after city staff ventured out to apply first aid and TLC to its wounds.
The Canada goose, which was seen hobbling around the park on Monday, received the medical attention Tuesday morning and was soon able to glide gracefully upon the waters again.
Kayla Tucker, director of the Arkansas-side animal services and the Animal Care & Adoption Center in Texarkana, and Animal Control Officer Jaryn Peschel tended to the injured goose’s leg wound
They were alerted to the injury in a social media post by local freelance photographer Molly Kendrick, who posted video footage of the goose limping at the park and inquired about who could possibly help.
Upon inspecting the scene and waiting for the bird to finish a swim, Tucker and Peschel noticed the female goose had fishing line embedded in its leg. Also, a band on its leg was keeping it from getting proper circulation.
“You could visibly see the leg was swollen,” Tucker said.
They had to wait for the goose to finish swimming before catching it.
Below the leg band, the fishing line was embedded into the leg.
“Basically, I was able to remove that, but the leg was still too tight to leave that band on, so I went ahead and removed that leg band,”
Tucker said.
She reported the removal of the leg band because it’s a federally protected bird, she said. Such bands typically have a website or a number on it. It seemd a wildlife research center banded this goose about five years ago.
“She apparently hatched in 2014,” Tucker said about this goose.
Entanglements with fishing line are not an uncommon occurrence.
“Unfortunately at that park there, we get quite a few calls on ducks and geese having hooks and fishing lines snagged on their legs and their feet,” Tucker said.
“A couple of years back, I actually rescued a Muscovy duck from that park. She actually had so much fishing line wrapped around her leg for so long that her foot was actually dead.”
She transported that duck to an Arkansas wildlife rehabber, who had to amputate the leg. “She was still able to get around just fine,” Tucker said. That duck was re-released back into the wild.
Tucker and Peschel were able to clean and treat the goose’s wound right there at the park so the goose could return to its partner and younger geese. Later, the goose family could be seen swimming together along the pond.
Tucker has the skills to take care of critters like an injured goose. She was a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Oklahoma before moving to Texarkana.
Photographer Kendrick said she was out walking at the park with a friend when they saw the goose limping by the pavilion. She believes it will be good for the public to know who to call if they face a similar situation. She’s glad her alert brought help.
“It was starting to seem like no one would do anything about it,” Kendrick said. “So heartwarming to see what they did.”
Tucker recommended that if people encounter a situation like this, they call the animal shelter or send them a message on the Facebook page. Animal control officers are on call 24/7 for emergency cases, she said.
She added that if people aren’t sure about an injured bird, they can stand by and keep an eye on it until someone arrives to help. And be careful around birds of prey, because talons and beaks can injure people.
Tucker said the goose wasn’t very pleased to be caught, but they were able to flush the injury and put an antibiotic on it before releasing.
“Her mate and their three offspring were standing by and nervously watching us the whole time,” Tucker said, noting the strong connection geese pairs have fore each other.
“I didn’t want transfer her from her family unit because geese actually mate for life, and so I didn’t want the mate to be apart for too long because they will actually mourn for each other,” Tucker said.
With the goose given first aid and rejoining its family, no mourning was necessary.