GOOSE'S STORY


BANDY: THE TRUE TALE OF A COURAGEOUS CAPE COD CANADA GOOSE is a moving story about a one-legged goose.

 
HUBBLE
By Choo Choo Love
July 2010



Poor Hubble has string or fishing line tangled around both feet
 
     We were admiring Wally and Nellie's goslings in early May when a goose limped up to us with his mate. As we often see geese with foot problems, we didn't think much of it until we inspected him more closely and discovered, to our dismay, that there was fishing line  stretching from one foot to the other, trying both feet together. They were digging into his right foot, causing him considerable pain as he hobbled from side to side with the strings  caught between his feet. It was a very heartbreaking sight.
 
Hubble and his mate.

Please CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEOCLIP OF HUBBLE

 
     We named him Hubble because of his hobble. Hubble may lose both feet if he is not caught and the string or fishing line removed.

     Hubble was quite friendly at first, flying to us whenever  he saw us.  However, he would never come right up to us to be fed and always stayed a safe distance from us. We contacted Shannon Kurbis of Wildlife Rescue Network and she tried everything in her power to try and capture him. She made a hook line and we tried that, hoping the hooks would snag the lines between his feet as he walked back and forth across the line. That didn't work. I tossed a hula hoop net at him and once, it fell over him and nearly caught him but it frightened him and he became much more wary of me after that. Shannon also tried using a net gun, without success.

     Earl and I went away for a month in June and returned early July. During our absence, Shannon tirelessly looked out for Hubble, waiting patiently for him to molt. By the time we returned, Hubble was still not molting when all the other geese in our area had begun molting. Some of them had almost completed their molt and Hubble was still flying around. He had also flown away from our park pond to  the Winnipeg Technical College retention pond, two miles away and would often disappear for days on end. During his absence from the pond, Shannon would search for him throughout the area, worrying that he was molting there. She never found him and he would reappear at WTC pond again, remain for a couple days, and disappear again.

     We last saw Hubble July 9. Since then, we have searched all over the area for him. We think that he has begun molting and this would be the best opportunity to capture him. Unfortunately, we have no idea where he may be at so we are distressed that we are unable to help him. We are continuing our search daily.
          
     Please be sure to discard strings and fishing line properly. If you spot string or fishing line anywhere (and fishing lures as well), please discard them even if they're not yours. The suffering that Hubble is going through is preventable if we all do our part to ensure that dangerous items do not end up in ponds, rivers or lakes. Please send this link to all your friends and feel free to use this story and photos.

SEPTEMBER 2010: Shannon received a phone call informing her that Hubble had been spotted at a retention pond on the outskirts of Winnipeg. She tried many time to capture him but he flew away. We have not seen him since then.












 
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