One-Legged Goose Outruns Out-of-Shape Couple

A one-legged goose should be easy to catch, right? Anybody can do it� well, not so much! Tara and I (both pretty experienced goose catchers - one of us much more so than the other ?) were completely outmaneuvered by a one-legged goose. We had 2 or 3 good chances, but she managed to evade us, even hopping on just one leg!
Finally tired of playing hop-away from us, she escaped to a pond on the golf course. Since we were about 35 minutes from home, we didn't want to make another trip. Frustrated and thoroughly disgusted, we decided to take a break. Maybe eat some lunch and give her time to waddle back onto land and settle in again.
We found a nice spot nearby for lunch and texted the homeowner to check if our feathered friend had returned. Sure enough, after tossing some snacks in her usual spot, our target was back and taking a nap. But this time, she saw us coming and knew exactly what we were up to! She was on the 12th green, super close to the water. Tara tried to distract her with corn while I snuck around to cut off her escape route to the water. Well, that didn't work - she spotted me and escaped into the water behind her.
But here's where it gets interesting - she picked a small, mostly frozen creek that flowed into the larger pond. What she didn't know (but we did! ?) was that a one-legged goose doesn't fare nearly as well on ice as on land. We saw our chance and took it! Though Tara had to get a little wet in the process (the things we do for our feathered friends!).
It was cold outside, so we moved fast and got her warmed up in the truck. My fingers were already numb from the brief walk back - wet hands and winter don't mix! Upon examination, we found she was really skinny, which makes sense for a one-legged goose struggling to find food. She seemed to have trouble gaining height when flying too - or maybe she was just cautious about landing with one leg.
The homeowner mentioned she'd been alone for a couple of weeks, and if there's one thing I really don't like, it's a lonely goose. These are flock animals - when they're happy and thriving, they're never alone. Since our previous skinny goose had already fattened up and reunited with their family, we had a perfect spot open.
We'll let her recover and gain some weight, and the choice will be hers - she can leave to live life on her terms, or stay safe in our yard with other handicapped friends who can't leave her behind even if they wanted to. We'll give her the option and see what she decides.
And yes, you guessed it - the old, healed injury was most likely caused by fishing line.

You can find 10 fun facts about the Canadian Goose here...
I've shared many this year already but check out some of my other goose stories here...
See one of our goose catching videos here...