The holiday season may be a lonely time, especially if you’ve just lost a loved one. But this lonely goose seems to have discovered a new way to find companionship. It is staring at your own reflection in the glossy paint of cars.
Three geese are a popular attraction at a garden center in West Sussex. This is where they spent 15 years together before they died.
According to Courtenay Luscombe, owner of Ferring Nurseries near Worthing, this bird has not been the same since his buddies died of old age early this year.
The heartbroken goose glances at his reflection in confused visitors’ car doors, apparently imagining he is with another goose.
Mr Luscombe, who has never named the bird, added, ‘We don’t know whether his grieving is lovely or sad.’
‘He is educated and saddened by the loss of his friends. It has left us befuddled. He stands there staring at himself all day.
‘At first, we didn’t understand why, but it eventually dawned on us that it was probably because he’s lonely.’
‘He favors black cars because they reflect his image more vividly than other colors.’ He’d known the two female geese his entire life, and he was always the pack leader.
‘You sometimes hear about long-term lovers dying within weeks of each other as a result of a shattered heart. Perhaps his depression is comparable.’
The goose was released from the wooden cage at 7:30 a.m. and fed by garden center staff before heading to the parking lot. Where it stood near cars until it was locked up again at 4pm. To keep him safe from foxes.
‘We’re not sure what to do now,’ Mr Luscombe continued. We could try to find him new pals, but there’s a chance he won’t like them, which would be bad.
‘All we want is for him to be happy.’ We could be open to the idea if someone wanted to take him to live with their geese – however, we don’t want him to become someone’s Christmas dinner!’
‘It would be logical to note that a bereaved goose would appreciate looking at his own reflection so that he does not appear alone – geese are gregarious creatures,’ said Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust agriculture warden Phoebe Vaughan.
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