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Wild goose chase! Wounded park fowl leads Rangers on the proverbial pursuit

Park officials: We’ll save geese this time
Community Newspaper Group / Stephen Brown

The wild and wounded goose chase of Prospect Park rages on!

Four Urban Park Rangers’ best efforts to corral a goose that had an arrow stuck through its neck were to no avail on Thursday, as their attempt to approach the traumatized creature only led to it taking to the skies and landing in the middle of the lake.

The rescue operation followed our report yesterday of the badly wounded bird — though it quickly became clear that the goose, dubbed “Target,” would remain an elusive quarry, despite having its neck shot through with an arrow.

“It’s still healthy — it was able to fly away from us,” said Martin Hicks, one of the Urban Park Rangers who attempted to wrangle the bird with a big net. “Obviously, it’s going to be harder to catch.”

Hicks added that he wanted to capture it while it remained reasonably healthy, as the pitiful bird’s condition was likely to worsen. The Rangers even dispatched a rowboat to try and corral the bird, but this method proved ineffective.

Park officials’ sense of urgency appeared warranted: the arrow — possibly a bolt from a crossbow, due to its length of roughly six inches — had penetrated the goose’s neck all the way through to the quills. Much of the flesh around the wound was exposed, making for a grisly sight.

“[The wound] is really getting irritated,” said Ed Bahlman, one of the parkgoers who alerted park officials to the goose. “It’s bobbing its head up and down — that arrow has got to come out.”

Onlookers — including a gaggle of reporters — were stunned that someone would have shot one of the beloved waterfowl of Prospect Park lake.

Parkgoers were stunned on Wednesday to find a goose whose neck had been punctured by an arrow. The Butcher at work — again?
Photo by Garey Lewis

“I’ve been around these geese for 15 years, they don’t bother anybody!” said David Stanley, who was relaxing by the lake. “It must have been a stupid kid — these things happen.”

But officials said that a person using a bow in the park was a serious matter, and that the police were on the case.

As the day wound to a close, it became clear that the rescue operation would enter its third day — though there is reason to hold out hope for “Target,” as other animals have survived much worse arrow-injuries.

“The goose seems in good shape and the Rangers [decided not] to aggravate it further. They are coming back [today] to try another rescue,” said Tupper Thomas, Prospect Park’s top administrator, adding that she was impressed by the injured bird’s tenacity.

“An amazing goose, I would say.”

The attempted animal assassination is only the latest in a long line of bizarre incidents in Brooklyn’s most beloved park. First came the disgusting chicken heads and animal entrails. Then, injured ducks and dead animals began appearing along the lake’s edge.

More recently, John Boy, a beloved swan, died in a spate of alleged swan-on-swan violence. And just last month, Bahlman and his companion Anne-Katrin Titze discovered what appeared to be turtle traps set in the water.

Parkgoers were stunned on Wednesday to find a goose whose neck had been punctured by an arrow. The Butcher at work — again?
Photo by Garey Lewis