The heartwarming devotion showed by an unexpected visitor at a Massachusetts wildlife hospital on Wednesday is truly an example of companion love.
A WTNH News 8 report said a Canada goose named Arnold along with his mate have lived for several years on a pond near the Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable.
According to a post on its Facebook page, Cape Wildlife Center wrote of the geese: “They are totally wild and usually keep to themselves when people are around.”
The post explained on Tuesday staff members noticed Arnold was walking with a “significant limp” and was constantly falling over.
With some effort, the staff was able to catch him and take him inside for a veterinary exam, which revealed Arnold had “two open fractures on his foot,” the post said.
“Our best guess is that a snapping turtle or other predator attacked him while swimming,” the hospital wrote, adding that “in order to save the foot and give him a chance at survival,” surgery would be needed.
Arnold was administered antibiotics and pain medications and “fasted” in preparation for the next day’s surgery, the hospital wrote.
On Wednesday, as staff members were preparing to sedate Arnold for surgery, the wildlife hospital said 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,” the wildlife hospital wrote. “She had somehow located him and was agitated that she could not get inside.”
“She remained there throughout the entire procedure, watching us work, never moving from the doorway,” the Facebook post stated.
After Arnold’s successful surgery, the wildlife hospital said staff members “decided to let him recover by the doorway so that he could see his mate.”
“His mate immediately calmed down and began to groom him through the door. They both seemed much more at ease in each other’s presence,” the wildlife hospital wrote.
The hospital’s post indicated that before he’s ready to rejoin his mate in the wild, Arnold will need “several weeks of treatment” and “be kept inside for the majority of this time in order to keep his wound sterile and prevent infection.”
The wildlife hospital wrote that it plans 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.”
WTNH News 8 cited experts with the Department of Natural Resources who explained Canadian geese live to about 25 years of age in the wild. They typically find a mate around the age of 3 and will remain with their partners for life.
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