Goose found in Fall River undergoes surgery to remove arrow from body

The Canada goose was brought to the New England Wildlife Center’s Cape Cod branch in Barnstable.New England Wildlife Center

A Canada goose with an arrow in his body who eluded officials for weeks in Fall River was captured Wednesday and underwent surgery Thursday to remove the arrow.

“This goose certainly has had a rough go of things,” said Zak Mertz, director of the New England Wildlife Center’s Cape Cod branch in Barnstable. “We’re monitoring him extremely closely.”

X-rays also showed what appeared to be a hunting pellet lodged in the goose’s body, which probably came from an air rifle, Mertz said.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the goose was alive but in guarded condition, he said.

Fall River animal control along with Tiverton, R.I., animal control had been tracking reports of the goose for nearly two weeks after he was sighted around Cook Pond several times with what was presumed to be a child’s arrow through his body, officials said.

Animal control officials encouraged people who frequented the pond to call whenever he was spotted, the Globe reported Monday.

“He was getting really skittish because people kept trying to catch him,” Fall River Animal Control Supervisor Cynthia Berard-Cadima said Thursday.

Berard-Cadima said when officers arrived around 2 p.m. Wednesday, the goose flew the entire length of Cook Pond to the Tiverton, R.I., section of the pond. Wildlife officials cornered him in a cove near Bourne Mill Apartments “and got one lucky grab.”

“I don’t know how that can be through your body and not be in pain,” she said.

Dr. Priya Patel, the medical director and wildlife veterinarian at the New England Wildlife Center’s Cape Cod branch in Barnstable, said the arrow was removed “with minimal bleeding,” but at one point the goose’s heart stopped, and he had to be resuscitated.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the goose was on oxygen, pain medication, and antibiotics, she said.

Once the goose becomes more stable, he’ll have to undergo another operation to clean out the wound “so it can heal properly,” she said.

For now, the goose will be monitored closely, and he will be “much more comfortable” now that the arrow is out of his body.

“He’s been through a lot,” she said.