Geese have a lot of things going for them.
They’re cute. They’re smart. And the way that goose parents will defend their young is legendary.
That last thing is just one of the reasons why you should maintain a respectful distance, never go near a goose’s nest, and never, ever chase a goose down the street. Besides the fact that it’s just not a nice thing to do, the goose will probably retaliate.
Summer Gidden, a young girl from Spring, Texas, learned that the hard way. She’s been making headlines after a goose turned the tables on her Sunday and her older sister (who appears to have misidentified the bird as a duck) posted photos on Twitter.
Don’t worry, Summer is completely fine and recognizes the humor in the situation.
“It’s funny,” she told local news station KHOU. The station wrote that flocks of geese nest on homes in the girl’s neighborhood, and on Sunday some kids started chasing the birds down the street.
Well, the birds weren’t going to take that.
The geese in turn starting chasing the kids, and Summer was the slowest, she told KHOU. Her sister, Stevie, noted that she knew Summer would be famous one day.
Besides steering clear of geese and their nests, there are other steps humans can take to avoid conflicts with the birds. Don’t make eye contact with the geese, keep your voice low and move slowly, Sid Andrews of Canada’s Inglewood Bird Sanctuary told the CBC last year.
Wildlife experts also recommend not feeding geese. Human food is nutritionally inadequate for the birds, and feeding them can bring geese populations to undesirable levels in human-filled areas, leading to sanitary issues and higher chances of conflicts.
Related
Before You Go
