Nail-necked goose is healed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When reports came in of a goose apparently shot with a nail gun, volunteers from Carolina Waterfowl Rescue began trying to find the wounded.

The goose lived with several others on a pond near a Retirement Community in North Charlotte. It took weeks to track him down.

“He was probably defending his nest and they shot him with the nail gun to get him away," said Deanna Epps. "We made a couple of attempts to come out here and get him.”

When volunteers found him, the pictures they took told the story. A large nail protruded from the goose’s neck.

Workers nicknamed him Brad and immediately began rehabilitation.

“Luckily it didn’t go into his windpipe. It kind of went between the esophagus and the windpipe and so he was fortunate in that way,” Epps said.

After removing the nail, Epps says volunteers started Brad on antibiotics. Ten days later, he was ready to go.

“He’s doing very well. He’s healed and back in top condition,” said Epps.

Brad is apparently glad to be home. When crews released him Monday morning, he immediately went toward his long lost mate.

More photos of Brad

Epps wasn’t surprised, saying, “They mate for life. They remember each other. When we carried the cage down there, he was honking because he saw his mate. And as soon as we opened it he ran straight toward her.”

The person responsible for Brad’s injury still has not come forward. For the volunteers at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue, they are just glad the animal survived.

The group rehabilitates and releases hundreds of injured birds, like Brad the goose, each year.