A winter migration to Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee, Ont., likely wasn’t in the flight plans for one snow goose.
Sandy Pines received a call in mid-December about the wayward creature, who appeared to be unable to fly away with his flock, leaving him alone for the holidays.
Avian and reptile team leader at Sandy Pines Caleigh Beckett had this to say.
“They do have a really long migration,” Beckett said. “It can be really difficult for them, so if they’re not able to make migration, then something is wrong, whether it’s something as simple as emaciation, or if it has along the way gotten sick or injured or something like that.”
Now, the challenge remains for Beckett and the Sandy Pines crew to figure out what’s wrong with this guy.
“We can’t find any fractures,” Beckett said. “Our X-ray machine is currently down. We are fundraising to have it fixed but we aren’t able to take any X-rays to see what’s going on, to see if there’s something that we’re unable to feel.”
Sandy Pines currently has over 140 animals of all varieties in its care, including the timid snow goose, and right now, without the proper equipment to find out the issue, exactly what’s wrong with him remains a mystery.
In the interim, they’ve shacked him up with a Canada goose, with whom snow geese tend to hang out in the wild, to keep him company.
It’ll be some time before this goose is loose as staff at Sandy Pines say they’ll need to care for it until the spring before it’s ready to join a new flock.