Friday, January 17, 2025

Rangers rescue wayward goose on Mr. Shasta

Mt. Shasta rangers in California got a gander of an unusual "climber" in distress on Christmas Eve, when they stumbled across a stranded goose that was 10,000 feet up the mountain.

Climbing Rangers Nick Meyers and Eric Falconer of the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center were on patrol at the Old Ski Bowl on Dec. 24, 2024, when they spotted the freezing flyer in the snow, according to the U.S. Forest Service.


A cold and lonely spot for a goose.

While Mt. Shasta rescue teams have encounters with plenty of troubled climbers they could tell right away this was no alpine goose. It was especially poorly equipped, the Shasta-Trinity National Forest teased.

It "had on only one layer of down and was neither prepared for the temperature nor overnight camping."

"It was pretty battered. It couldn't fly, but we still had trouble catching it," said Meyers, "so I kind of dove on it."

The bird calmed down as Meyers held it, and stayed calm while he drove it down the mountain to the road by snowmobile.

The two men let the animal go in a pond further down the mountain. When he checked on the bird on Christmas Day, it was doing fine, Meyers said

4 comments:

  1. Hope he made it and didn't turned into food...NOT that there's anything wrong with that...

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  2. Had a snow goose circle around the house getting lower and lower and landed in our yard. Tried to keep it alive but it expired a few hours later. Found out that bird flu was going through the geese around the lake near us. Glad we kept it from our chickens.

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  3. These two have two spots in Heaven reserved for them.

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  4. Last seen warming up...in the oven....I'd rather have Salmon myself..

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