Canada Goose Trapped in Frozen Sand About to Be Euthanized When Fire Department Shows Up
When Gretchen Worley from La Porte, Indiana, spots an animal in need, she doesn’t hesitate to give it her all. So when she found out about a goose frozen in the sand at Indiana Dunes State Park, she went out to help.
An avid animal rescuer, Worley chronicled the attempted rescue on her Facebook page after arriving on site, on the frigid shore of Lake Michigan.
“Sitting on ice at Indiana Dunes state park, this goose is deep in the ice,” she wrote on Dec. 26. “I have a bunch of salt all the way around him, 3 blankets and part of my body trying to melt him out, it’s started snowing now, and I’m really getting worried I’ll not be able to get him out …”
She said she could tell the goose knew she was trying her best, but the salt, blankets, and body heat did little against the bitterly cold conditions. The ice was thick, the goose was well and truly stuck, and Worley was starting to suffer the effects of the cold.
Another avid animal enthusiast and rehabber arrived, and after seeing the sad state of the critter, “agreed to euthanize the goose as there truly wasn’t any hope,” Worley explained in a follow-up post.
As Worley was warming up back in her truck, she got a call from her friend out with the goose: He’d decided to make one last-ditch effort by calling the fire department.
“Earlier today Indiana Conservation Officers were contacted about a Canada goose that found itself frozen in the wet sand along the edge of Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes State Park,” the Indiana DNR Law Enforcement Facebook page shared. “Several Good Samaritans had already attempted to free the goose without any luck.
“To prevent further risk to the public and to help the animal, a quick call to Porter Volunteer Firefighters, Inc. was made and the goose was safely removed from the frozen beach!
“The bird was then transported to a local licensed wildlife rehabilitation and veterinarian’s facility for treatment. Great work by all!”
The fire department was able to use their hose to melt through the ice and free the bird. Worley then said she transported the animal to her truck, where she had a heating pad set up in a carrier for the poor bird.
She said that by the time they got to the Westchester veterinary clinic, the goose had gotten some of its “spice” back, but that the heating blanket had frozen to the bird. She publicly thanked a good Samaritan named “Bob,” who initially alerted them to the goose.
“If not for YOU the public reaching out, we’d not know,” she wrote in a post. “[Y]ou are the true heroes for caring enough for asking for help.”
Not everyone was thrilled with the rescue, and they commented on the Indiana DNR Law Enforcement’s post to gripe about the incident, arguing that the geese are invasive and destructive and that the rescue was a poor use of the fire department’s resources.
“I’m not sure what that’s all about,” a firefighter named Craig said, according to a post by the Town of Chesterton. “I mean, we’re firefighters. We rescue people and animals. We get cats out of trees. We save dogs and deer that fall through the ice.
“Anyway, just leaving the goose there, dying or dead, for folks to see — and maybe get hurt trying to help — that’s not a good look for the Indiana Dunes. Maybe next season a hunter bags that goose. Maybe a coyote catches it. But right now I’m feeling pretty good about its being out of the ice.”
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