Greetings,

Sorry for the delay in response. I noticed several questions relating to the
Green Lake shooting spree this past Wednesday.

I had hardly started my Wednesday morning bird count or the first person
stopped me to report a goose with an arrow in its head and "what are you
going to do about it?" It's nice to be recognized for being a wildlife (in
the broadest sense of the word) advocate....I guess.

I found the domesticated (Chinese) goose with the crossbow arrow sticking up
out of its head fairly easily; it was swimming toward the island. A Canada
Goose with a similar arrow sticking out of the breast/base neck, was resting
offshore and an American Coot with an arrow through one of its wings was
foraging on land near the Bathhouse Theater.

I never did see the coot again. I imagine the eagles may have done their job
on that bird. Besides, I had no illusions about being able to capture it.
You would need a cannon-propelled net or something and wait till it comes on
land to eat.

Because I have had some experience with the police department and their
misinterpretation of my attempts to help birds at the lake I figured I would
contact them prior to undertaking any rescue operations. (I was accused of
molesting a goose, and threatened with jail time once, while trying to move
a recently "released" domesticated goose from the Aqua Theater parking lot
to the bay north of the island where the other domesticated geese hang out).
So I called the police non-emergency number (for Seattle 206-625-5011; found
on inside cover phone book). They put me in touch with officer "Bob" who
responds to animal/wildlife calls. He will come and attempt to catch the
animal, or in this case, wait for a call that the birds were caught. He then
transports the critter to a wildlife rehabilitation center.

If you do find an injured animal and can capture it safely (both for the
animal and you), you can take it to PAWS/HOWL in Lynwood (425-787-2500 for
instructions/directions). They recommend putting the injured animal in a
well-ventilated box, WITHOUT food and/or water, and bringing it in ASAP.

When I returned to the lake with some (whole wheat) bread, and two large
boxes, I found an Animal Control officer being interviewed by the first of a
local news station. Normally Animal Control doesn't come out on "wild goose
chases." Apparently the first attempts to catch the geese with nets on poles
had failed. I lured the domesticated geese in and the officers managed to
nab the injured bird. It is recovering (the arrow missed vital organs by
fractions of an inch) and after ten days of antibiotics will be set free
again (I presume at Green Lake; this according to one of the TV stations).

Subsequently we tried in vain to nab the Canada Goose with the arrow in its
breast. It was in sad shape, but managed to fly when cornered. We ended up
using boats to drive it to land, where we tried to drive it beneath trees up
against the chainlink fence around the tennis court. My hope was we would be
able to corner it there. However it eluded us several times at the last
moment. Feeling a bit like Keystone Cops...

Cost: one burnt-out outboard motor and ruined propeller on a Parks
Department boat (luckily someone from Parks was "driving" the Animal Control
officers at the time). After that we switched to nonmotorized boats (kayak
and canoe; this is where I joined in on water). I had to leave around 2 PM
(we started around 11). I understand the Animal Control officers gave up
some time later after flipping their canoe and ruining their mobile radio
unit.

I searched the lake (from shore) for the Canada Goose on Thursday and
Friday, but could not locate the bird. I figured it had crawled under a bush
on the island. This (Saturday) morning, however, we (bird walk participants)
noticed the bird swimming north of the island.

I don't think we will want to do another Keystone Cops episode. Useless and
too expensive. There are crew races on the lake and with the sunshine the
place is mobbed. Not a good time to try and chase an injured goose onto land
and corner it safely. However, I will give it another try soon, when there
are no crowds at the lake (consequently I won't announce the time here). In
the past the planned strategy has worked well with a variety of injured
(usually due to fishing line) birds.

I'll post the results.

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com