NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WJAR) — A group of once strangers from the New Bedford area recently worked together to free a goose that had plastic wrapped around its head and beak.
A few weeks ago, Lynn Coish of New Bedford said she saw a Facebook post from a woman named Amber, that showed a picture of a goose with a black strap stuck on it.
“Someone posted a picture of the goose walking, and she thought it was a zip tie that someone put a zip tie around the goose’s head, and it was going through its mouth,” said Coish. “If there is an animal in distress I want to do everything I can to get it help. I only came to this park because I knew there was a goose in it.”
Lynn Coish spoke about the rescue. (WJAR)
Coish began contacting several wildlife rescuers but had no luck.
“None of them were willing to do the actual rescue but they’ll take the rescue animals,” she said.
Eventually, she made her way to Riverside Park.
That’s where she learned the goose had been hanging out.
Eventually, those who were dedicated to helping the bird formed their own group message chain. (Lynn Coish)
She said several people on social media began telling her how to catch a goose, so she figured she would try.
“Nevertheless I came here with the stuff and there were two other people and one of them had a net. I was like, ‘Oh good, there are other people out here thank goodness,'” said Coish. “Every day I came after work and so did other people. In the meantime, animal control did come out here a couple times but they weren’t able to catch it cause it could still fly.
Eventually, those who were dedicated to helping the bird formed their own group message chain.
“We were out here in the rain. I think the combined sewer overflow in that inlet area was really really gross, even still, everyone was dedicated and nobody was going to ever go home until that goose was caught and helped,” she said. “Having other people here kind of validated the craziness of actually trying to do it because I wasn’t the only one.”
Lynn Coish said she grabbed its leg, pulled it close to her, and took the black band off of its face. (Lynn Coish)
About five days had passed with Coish met the original poster at the park.
“Amber the girl who caught him, was waited into the water. We had people with kayaks, then one day, they were going to go check out Market Basket I said, ‘Ok, I’ll stay here in case it flies back.”‘
Market Basket sits near the park. That’s where Amber was able to catch it.
Coish said she grabbed its leg, pulled it close to her, and took the black band off of its face.
“She got wing punched in the face a couple of times but other than that it was fine,” said Coish. “It was quite the adventure.”
The goose went on its merry way. Ever since, Coish said she’s on the lookout for it.
“I drove by the geese at Market Basket yesterday. I’m driving like, ‘I wonder which one it might be?’ Ya know. Just knowing that it’s not dying of starvation now is just like that’s the thing. That’ what I care about,” said Coish.