A goose whose family loves him like a dog overcame the odds by escaping the clutches of a fox and finding his way home.
Steve the goose gave his family a terrible fright when he disappeared from their farm recently. At first, his family were perplexed at how the goose got out of his enclosure, but when a neighbor told them they had seen a fox carrying a goose in its mouth, the family feared the worst. A hole found by the side of his pen practically confirmed it.
Steve’s mom, Carla Shymko, told CBC Radio that Steve’s ordeal began when he vanished from Shymko’s acreage in Moose Jaw, Canada. It was unusual for the goose, as he likes to stick close to the family.
“He’s literally just like a dog. He used to fight my Rottweiler for attention,” she said of Steve. He was rescued from a bird sanctuary with his mate Lulu, who has since passed away.
Now Steve follows Shymko when she gardens and cuddles next to her when she is reading. After Steve went missing Shymko turned to Facebook for help. She was hopeful until the neighbor’s sighting. The chances of Steve surviving a fox attack were slim to none it seemed.
But the goose appears to have had a trick or two up his sleeve.
Two days later Steve appeared at her door. Steve was back! Shymko remarked he had a bit of blood on his leg and was dirty and exhausted.
“He was so excited to see me. He started coming over, and he fell over,” she said.
She and her family marvel that the flightless waterfowl outsmarted a fox. But they are extremely happy to have him home.
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