TORONTO – A gruesome story of animal abuse had a happy ending after a goose was found in a Colorado park with a nail protruding from its head.
The discovery was made by Don Carson, a formerly homeless man who liked to spend his days in Creekside Park in Glendale, Colorado.
He tells local news outlets that he had become friendly with the geese who frequented the park, even naming a few of them – including one named “Honk,” who he says he could identify by his unusual tail feathers.
Authorities would later discern that someone had shot the goose with a nail gun, and the three-inch nail was still embedded in the animal’s skull.
Despite being homeless, Carson began to call around to police, wildlife control government agencies – anyone who could give “Honk” the medical care he urgently needed.
That led him to Cindy Yeast at the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Lyons, Colorado.
“I knew that if we did not do something to get the nail out of his head that he would probably not live very long,” Yeast said.
She helped capture “Honk” and bring him to the Deer Creek Animal Hospital in Littleton, Colorado, where veterinarian Jesse Apted performed the surgery to remove the nail from his head.
“Most likely, it would have become infected and that infection would’ve killed him.”
Post-op, “Honk” was returned to Creekside Park, where onlookers were delighted to see him reunited with his mate, who Carson nicknamed “Claudia.”
Incredibly, Carson’s act of kindness signaled a sea change in his own life.
According to NBC-9 News, in the weeks since helping “Honk” Carson got a job at a bakery and moved into an apartment, ending his homelessness.
Now Carson is left to wonder why someone would shoot the bird with a nail gun.
“You’re either a good soul or you’re a mean spirit — and [the person who did this] was obviously a mean spirited person,” Carson said.
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