Two geese, long-time residents of Bethany Lakes Park, were recently removed from their habitat, and the act was captured on camera.
According to NBCDFW, Betty and Fred, domestic geese, are longtime residents of the park. The geese are not the typical species found in parks, but rather, they were likely abandoned at the park by someone who no longer wanted to care for them.
Images circulated on social media of a young woman carrying the geese out of the park on Friday afternoon, sparking hundreds of comments over the weekend. The geese were loaded into a car and taken away. A license plate was given to police, leading to a hunt for the animals.
But Betty and Fred were not federally protected because they are domesticated geese and not wild.
“In cases where federally protected waterfowl are involved, the Texas Game Wardens will usually take over,” Allen Police Sergeant Jonathan Maness told Local Profile. “In this case, the teen that took the geese cooperated fully, so no charges are being filed. The geese were returned to Bethany Lakes Park and released.”
On April 15, Betty was brought back, but she had been separated from Fred. His weighing and wing examination by Allen Animal Services was successful, and the heartwarming moment when Fred was reunited with Betty, his lifelong mate, was shared in a video by the city of Allen.
“The wild goose chase has come to an end,” an animal control officer said during the release of Betty and Fred. “Our Allen residents can rest easy knowing our geese are back home where they belong and safe and healthy.”
The geese, fixtures of Bethany Lakes Park for over a decade, were released with officers and residents happy to see them home. “This is what makes our job worth every minute,” another animal control officer said in the video.
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