Fowl deed: Rescuers extract arrow from Canada goose

Residents and Audubon Greenwich staff yesterday pursued the injured bird over land and, using a kayak, followed it into a pond before capturing it, said Audubon store manager Brian O'Toole, an experienced birder.

Rescuers were able to cut the arrow and remove it from behind the goose's chest without causing further injury, O'Toole said. The bird was released back into the pond, apparently healthy, to rejoin its flock.

"When we arrived on the scene, the bird was grazing on the lawn," O'Toole said. "It looked bad, but it actually looked worse than it was. The goose certainly was able to run away."

Rescuers were unable to explain yesterday when or where the bird was shot, but the city's animal control officers and staff from Stamford-based animal rehabilitators, Wildlife Orphanage, have been unsuccessfully trying to catch it for several weeks, said Heather Bernatchez, director of development of Wildlife Orphanage.

Wildlife Orphanage learned of the injured bird from a North Stamford resident affiliated with the organization who had spotted it.

Bernatchez spectulated that someone was trying to kill the bird and missed.

Hunting season for waterfowl does not begin until fall, however, said city animal control officer Stendahl Jean-Louis.

Thornwood Road residents Patty Storms and Morty Bachar spotted the wounded bird near their home Monday.

"It could not really fly, so you start to think that maybe it's someone around here that's done it," Storms said.

Bachar and Storms yesterday contacted Weston-based Wildlife in Crisis, a rescue group, who dispatched Audubon Greenwich employees O'Toole and John Fairty.

Jean-Louis, the city animal control official, said it's not uncommon for people to claim they injured an animal while hunting. But intentionally harming an animal carries penalties - a maximum of $10,000 or 10 years imprisonment for a conviction.