Her break-in attempt was unsuccessful; however, Amelia, not wanting to leave her partner’s side, remained at the door throughout the entire surgery.
The New England Wildlife Center posted the story to their Facebook page on July 14. According to their post, the mated pair of wild geese live on a pond near the facility.
One morning, the staff noticed Arnold had developed a limp and was “continuously falling over.” Concerned, they worked together to catch the goose and bring him in for a quick exam.
“Upon exam, our veterinary team found that he had two open-fractures on his foot,” said the team on Facebook. “This means that the tissue and skin have been pulled away leaving the bone exposed.
“Our best guess is that a Snapping turtle or other predator attacked him while swimming,” they continued.
To save his foot, the staff knew they needed to perform surgery on Arnold immediately. So, they gave the goose all the necessary medications and fasted him for the surgery that would be performed the following morning.
But as they sedated him for surgery the next day, they heard a “faint tapping at the clinic door.”
“We turned to see that his mate had waddled up onto the porch and was attempting to break into our clinic,” they said. “She had somehow located him and was agitated she could not get inside.
The staff shared that Amelia remained at the doorway throughout the entire surgery, watching closely as the doctors operated on her mate.
Once Arnold was awake, the staff opened the door and gave him his oxygen at the doorway so that he could be close to Amelia.
“His mate immediately calmed down and began to groom him through the door,” the staff said. “They both seemed much more at ease in each other’s presence.”
Arnold is still recovering in the hospital, but the staff shared Tuesday that Amelia stops by every day to spend some time with her mate. He still receives all of his treatments at the door, and the two recently shared a meal together.
Once he’s finished his rounds of medications and his wounds are healed, Arnold will be re-released into the wild, where he can spend all of his days with his beloved Amelia.
The bond shared by Arnold and Amelia is common amongst geese. All About Birds reports that geese mate for life and have very low “divorce” rates as a species.
