By Lorraine Aubert | Executive Director
In the Spring, many teachers believe it's a great idea to start a hatching project to teach students how a duck or goose is "born." The problem with this is that the teachers often don't think about the life they are bringing into the world and if that bird is going to have an appropriate home when it grows up. Finding a home for the bird is usually an after thought and the teacher, parent, or school employee is desperate to "get rid" of the bird as it grows up, becomes too big, and makes too much mess.
We were contacted by a concerned mother this Spring. Her daughter's private school has a small school farm with chickens and a pair of Sebastopol geese. Mama goose laid 3 eggs and a 2nd grade teacher set up an incubater to hatch the 3 eggs as a science project. One gosling hatched and Goo Goo came into the world. Goo Goo was a happy gosling until she was about 3 weeks old and a 1st grade student dropped her. Goo lost the ability to use her left leg. 3 concerned moms paid to get Goo to a veterinarian to treat her injured leg. They also contacted us to take her in. Lorraine took her into Medical Center For Birds for treatment. Dr. Murphy diagnosed Goo with a slipped tendon. She also said that slipped tendons in birds were rarely cured unless treatment was provided immediately after the injury. We wanted to give Goo a chance so Dr. Murphy was able to get the tendon in the correct place and splinted up the leg. Over the next few hours, the leg and toes swelled to twice their normal size causing a significant amount of pain. Sadly, the only humane solution for Goo was to put her to sleep.
The 3 moms got together and created an Animal Welfare group at the school to make sure something like this never happens again. They also went to the school board with the problem and it was decided that Goo's parents should be surrendered to the rescue. A few weeks after arriving at the rescue, Goo's parents were adopted by a bird-loving couple and they are now enjoying a large yard with a pond, and a safe aviary to sleep in at night.
It was a painful lesson for the children of the school and the parents and teachers involved. Losing Goo was heart-wrenching. We took comfort in being able to educate the parents and by taking in Goo's parents and rehoming them to a wonderful, forever home.
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