Two Very Special French Toulouse Geese

This was written over a year ago, and I just had to share it again.  I had thought about writing a children's book about this and even had the names for the geese...Phoebe and Rief, but that is as far as I ever got with the idea...I was even going to do the watercolours of the geese for the book, yet, alas...another year gone by...maybe one day~

Two beautiful French Toulouse geese were abandoned about a year ago at a company near our home. The female had an old injury to her left foot, and her mate was totally devoted to watching over her, as they mate for life. One day when taking food up for them, we received an early snow. The ground was hard and the snow was falling fast. The female having a damaged foot found it hard to stay standing for long and had to lie down to eat. For days, I kept about thinking of ways to capture these geese and place them where they would be safe. The area where they were abandoned had Coyotes and it was not a promising scenario playing out. Tragically the female flew into a two story window breaking her beak, and our local animal shelter was called to collect her. I found out 3 days later and set out trying to capture her mate, who was making mournful honking noises for hours on end. A couple of days went by, no luck catching him and the female needed surgery on her beak. A wonderful local Veterinarian not only did the surgery, but adopted the female goose. That was the good news, but the male was still out there, and a sad sight was he. The company where he was, rang me up one morning to report that the employees were becoming concerned for the welfare of the goose and would I come take a look. Gathered with some dry cat food, grains and hope and a prayer. I found the goose staring at himself in the reflective glass window, hoping it was his mate! It was just a pitiful thing. He did not seem to even care this time that I was nearby. I rang up two workmen from my cell phone and they came to assist me in an attempt to catch the goose. The two men came up from behind and I in the front, when to my utter amazement the goose began to run and I swooped it up so fast, that I did not even realize how I did it. The two men were very congratulatory. Now here comes the great part, besides the fact he would be reunited by that evening with his mate... I drove nine miles with a huge male goose in my lap, strapped in with me, by my seat belt. I hope that was not breaking any lawful rules, for both of us were as snug as could be. Last week, I met with the wonderful Veterinarian who took them in and she said they are doing great. They have even taken up with the ducks that live on her farm and usher them around~