Canada Goose Waits Outside Wildlife Hospital While Her Injured Mate Gets Surgery

It’s always stressful when a loved one is in the hospital, especially if we can’t be with them while they’re being treated. Apparently this stress extends to the animal kingdom, as a pair of geese in Massachusetts recently showed.

Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts has a wild Canada goose neighbor named Arnold who lives on a pond nearby, along with his mate of several years. They noticed Arnold wasn’t walking very easily one day, so they decided to bring him in to try to help.

When their staff took a look, they realized he had two open-fractures on his foot.

In a Facebook post about Arnold, the center said, “This means that the tissue and skin has been pulled away leaving the bone exposed. Our best guess is that a snapping turtle or other predator attacked him while swimming.”

Arnold needed to have surgery to remove one of the digits and suture the other wound so his foot could still be saved. As staff were about to sedate him before the surgery, they say they heard a tap at the clinic door. Outside, somewhat worked up about the situation, was his mate.

They wrote, “We turned to see that his mate had waddled up onto the porch and was attempting to break into our clinic! She had somehow located him and was agitated that she could not get inside.”

They say she remained there until the surgery was finished. Touched by this, the staff placed Arnold by the door once he woke from anesthesia so the pair could see each other. When they opened the door, his mate groomed him and they were both much calmer.

Arnold will still need time to recover in the clinic, but as he does, his mate will be able to see him.

The post says, “We will do our best to get him back out quickly and will perform bandage changes and treatments in view of the doorway when possible so that his mate can check up on him.”

The devotion isn’t surprising, as Canada geese typically mate for life. They also work hard together to keep their goslings safe after they hatch.