Human Predators

Someone stole my geese. A couple of months ago, my geese, "Click" & "Clack," voluntarily moved from my backyard across the street to the big city park. There were other domestic geese living in the pond, and my geese joined them.

Saturday morning, they were gone. Since December, at least 11 of the domestic geese in the park's pond are gone.

Domestic geese don't fly nor do they migrate. They live at the pond as one, happy little flock.

Animal Control told me that the city is having a big problem with Southeast Asians stealing ducks and geese from city parks. If that is the case, then my Click and Clack were sold to an Asian market.

I am sickened. I am repulsed. And if the thieves are caught, it's just a misdemeanor.

Why did I have geese?

Last March 2007, two goslings appeared on my doormat - two fuzzy, yellow chicks. Except for the big feet, they looked like ducklings. Their parents had been hanging around my yard for a few weeks, so I figured they were nesting in the bushes. But the parent geese left the week-old goslings one day, and went back to the park. They came around periodically, but never showed interest in their babies. I have since found out that Chinese geese aren't always the best parents.

They would have ended up as raccoon food if we left them outside all night, so we brought them in the house and put them in a dog crate. I went online to find out what to feed them. The first night, it was mashed up cat food. The next day I went to the feed store and bought waterfowl starter feed. The rest is history.

They waddled around my kitchen for a couple of months. I put out baking pans of water for them to play in. I made them a nest with soft alfalfa hay inside of a plastic bin - the kind that fits under the bed. They ate a diet of waterfowl food, Romain lettuce and dandelion greens.

They grew and grew and grew. Their yellow down was pushed out by funny-looking feathers. They started to get aggressive, chasing visiting teenage boys, around the kitchen (that was a sight!). We all got a few goose bites. They went through that awkward stage where their feet and legs go so big that they looked like Ostriches.

We eventually moved them outside into our backyard. It is fenced with wrought iron fencing and has a big pond and fountain in it. A friend gave me an extra-large dog cage where they slept at night, safe from predators on their bed of alfalfa hay. We taught them to climb into the pond and swim. They loved the pond.

They grew and grew. The honking started. And everyday, they looked across the street longingly at the other geese in the park and honked.

Finally, we started letting them go to the park during the day. They came home every evening for food and bed.

And last December, they decided to make the park their permanent home. They visited everyday, as they waddled over from the park, often bringing two of three other goose friends. My son started calling me the crazy goose lady because I could hand feed all of them. I'd walk them back across the street to the pond, and visit them in the evening before dark, armed with Romain lettuce, a treat of dandelion greens and waterfowl food. Eventually, I made friends with all 14 of the domestic geese who lived at the pond. I named them: Mr. & Mrs. Brown, Frick & Frack, my own Click & Clack, Gabby goose, Louie, Yak and Mrs. Yak, Zack, Jack, Mack...

And then they started disappearing, two by two. We are down to only 3 big ganders: Yak, Louie and Gabby. Mrs. Yak is a Canadian honker - technically a wild goose. Ducks are missing as well.

Human predators are far more dangerous. We are supposed to know better, and take care of the animals, not prey on them.