From my St. Thomas Dog Blog, Dec. 11, 2010
It’s been a good week in St. Thomas for happy endings to harrowing animal tales. First was a stranded Canada Goose in a city park.
Help for a Canada Goose
Kathi Baslaugh fed the apparently injured goose she named Sweetie for several weeks. When I first read about it in the Times-Journal (no longer online), I realized I had seen her and Sweetie when at Waterworks Park with the dogs one day. I had wondered why a goose was just sitting there, not moving. But I was concerned with keeping the dogs from investigating the matter for themselves. I saw a woman head to the goose with a container of food.
The cold weather make Kathi realize something had to be done or Sweetie was a goner. So she put out an appeal for help and many people responded. They rounded up the goose and took him to Beaver Creek Animal Hospital where it was discovered he had arthritis in one wing. Who knew geese got arthritis! From there, he went to the Jack Miner Bird Sanctuary in Kingsville Ontario where he’ll live safely with lots of bird friends.
Happy endings for a cat
Then appeared in the paper a photograph of an orange and white cat atop a hydro pole. He couldn’t get down and had been up there for four days. A neighbour named Bob Walker, a Korean War veteran, took on the mission – Saving Private Kitty. He paid over $400 to the power company to shut off the lines and booked a crane and operator. He would have paid for that too, but the people at Yarmouth Crane declined to accept payment for their services.
The cat, newly named Sky or perhaps Bob’s Pest, also went to Beaver Creek Animal Hospital where he’s recovering just fine from his ordeal. Other people in town and elsewhere have been calling for contributions to offset the Walkers’ expenditure. But Mr. and Mrs. Walker say they’ve got it covered and if anyone wants to donate, give it to the Salvation Army for the good work that group does at Christmas and year around.
It’s so nice to hear about individuals like these who saw a problem and decided to solve it, as well as all the others who rallied to help them. Included in those others are the staff of the Times-Journal who decided that stories about a cat up a pole and a wild goose were worth reporting and following up on in subsequent days. Thanks to all. Indeed happy endings, and that warms the cockles.
