Social Question 30

Thanks for hanging in limbo for a bit, I was in Indiana for 8 days with my bestie and adopted sis . We painted, sewed, and restored skulls together.

This social question is a bit different. I'm going to tell you a true story about a curious animal we're taking care of. I'll pose a question at the end asking for your opinion, I'm really interested in what you think.

In 2006, a nest of canadian goose eggs were saved from a reckless lawn mower. We took them home, incubated them, and got 2 chicks. We raised them as our own, from cute little goslings into mature male geese. One goose was timid, small, and hardly spoke. The other was big, very big, the biggest goose we'd ever seen, and he protected his brother and became the bouncer of the aviary. They fell in line with our other canadian goose pet, Lucy. Lucy is blind. She was found after crash landing in my aunt's fenced in back yard. The girl goose spun in circles, totally blind. How she even flew was beyond us. But we took her in. She might  have some sight because she can find food and water with ease, but she has no sense of direction or space. The trio were happy together, though Lucy didn't seem to care whether she was alone or with the new geese.

Years passed. The smaller of the boys died unexpectedly. The bigger became more aggressive. He began to attack the mallard ducks, carrying them around by their necks. He would peck at and toss hens, and chase the guineas and peacocks. We didn't know what to do about him - he was hand-raised, could we release him? We had no choice. One day we let him out of the aviary. He flew away, and didn't return.

Two years later. He returned, with a mate. She was a wild goose. She was scared of the pasture, the goats and llamas, the fenced in aviary. He would land close to the barn but she would be farther away, calling nervously. They eventually moved to the pond behind our house. They had a nest, and hatched two goslings. After a couple weeks though the chicks vanished. We think a fox got to them and the parents couldn't fight them off. They flew away again, not to be seen until the following year.

This is where things get strange. This March 2013, the big boy and his wild mate return. He lands infront of the aviary and barn, visiting like he did the year before. Last year he visited Lucy and called her from outside the wire. He stayed a week and left to his mate. But this year, this year it's different. He stood outside the wire and called to Lucy. She neared the wire and greeted him back with quiet little honks. They seemed to be talking to each other. Lucy hardly responded to him before, sometimes calling loudly and then going about her business. Every morning, noon, and evening, Big Boy's wild mate would fly over and call to him angrily. She would not land there, too many animals, too many buildings, too many shadows for predators to hide. But Big Boy was raised here, it was home. He wasn't scared and had no reason to be. Nothing could stand up against him and never would. For the first few weeks Big Boy left at night to a neighbor's pond to stay with the flock. But every morning he was back by the aviary wire, murmuring to Lucy. For the first time in her life Lucy started eating grass. How did she learn to do that? She usually never lowered her beak to the ground, waving side to side, using her beak as a cane to search out bread and grass. Big Boy stayed more and more, the mate calling back to him whenever she flew by. He would honk back and sometimes fly away but the longer he stayed the less he left. After a month, the mate flew over one final time, honking at him. Big Boy did not honk back.

It seemed he wanted Lucy. We couldn't let him back into the aviary, he would still be aggressive. But then, a female duck we had penned separately hatched 6 healthy ducklings. Her pen was at the corner of the aviary, where Big Boy could walk all the way around it. As soon as he saw them he furiously began to guard that corner. He could never get to them, but he thought he could. He hissed and charged at anything that moved near that corner. The duck didn't care for him. I think she was confused.

So, why do you think Big Boy abandoned his wild freedom to come back to us? He's still living outside the aviary, hanging around by the wire. Hissing at all that pass despite the ducklings now being 3 weeks old. We have food and water for him under the shed where he sleeps at night. The mate no longer comes. No wild geese come by to find him.

~Cara