I found this poor goose laying in a park today and acting odd. When I got closer I saw that its left leg was coiled up and the area around it was covered in blood. As far as I can tell, the goose got trapped in some fishing line or something and nearly amputated its leg. None of the wildlife rescue groups could get it so a coworker and I done wrassled it into a critter gitter and brought it to a rescue. With any luck it will make some kind of recovery even if it can’t be released.
Assuming the leg recovers mostly okay in a few weeks, it should be able to be reintroduced to a herd of geese before they migrate. Looks kinda young but deffinitly not a baby.
I always crouch my expectations with wildlife rescue. In this case I didn’t get close enough to really discern the full nature of the injury until I was bearhugging it, and at that point the mission was just to get it into that container and speed away. From 1.5m~ away the leg was really abnormal and seemed almost necrotic with no movement or weight-bearing whatsoever. The goose was exhausted and still actively bleeding pretty heavily. That kind of damage and function loss is probably survivable but I’d say it’s 50/50 whether it’s reintroduced or kept semi-wild in a sanctuary.
I’ve seen a semi wild duck with a chunk of its beak missing that seemed to be doing fine.
For at least five years there was a local buzzard that had lost a leg somehow and was still getting around.
So, reasons to stay positive.