Looks like it’s time to move over, Mac, because Moose Jaw has a new favourite animal in town and he has a much more harrowing story to tell.
His name is Steve the Goose, and he’s become an overnight Internet sensation after the story of his daring fox escape hit the front page of the news last week.
“I can’t believe how many people have reached out to us [after everything], I’m pretty sure there’s over a thousand people by now,” said Carla Shymko, Steve’s owner and the spokesperson for his roller-coaster tale.
Steve’s story begins about nine years ago, when he and his partner Lulu joined the Shymko family as a bonded pair of geese from Free to Be Me Sanctuary.
At first, Shymko admits she was hesitant about having geese and thought the pair would just be like any other farm animals, but they quickly became more than just birds to the family. Steve is especially attached to Shymko, following her around the family’s acreage southwest of Moose Jaw just like any other pet.
“He’s like a dog, he follows me around the yard,” said Shymko. “If I’m in the garden, he’s in the garden right beside me. If I’m reading a book on the patio, he would be beside me and put his head on my lap. All the kids played with him.”
“He’s a better watch animal than our Rottweiler ever was,” she joked. “He’s very loving and friendly, [and] he’ll come when he’s called. If he hears my voice, he goes crazy. He’s just a fun animal to have, and he has personality. It's kind of neat.”
Even after Lulu passed away four years ago, Steve kept himself busy and even became a bit of a local celebrity.
“He was the talk of the town,” laughed Shymko. “Everybody knew about him, and we have teenage kids who always brought their friends to see him. He was really well known.”
That’s why on one morning about two weeks ago, when Shymko noticed nothing but an ominous pile of feathers in Steve’s enclosure and no Steve in sight, the family started worrying.
“Everything was locked up tight, and he was just gone,” said Shymko. “We didn’t know what happened.”
So began the goose chase, as Shymko calls it. After searching for more clues around the area and coming up empty-handed, Shymko reached out on Facebook hoping that someone had seen Steve around — and immediately Steve’s local following stepped up.
“I didn’t want people to think I was crazy, looking for a goose, but I put it out there and I had so many responses from people, wanting to come and drive around and look for him,” said Shymko. “There were so many people wishing us luck.”
Finally, however, some unfortunate news came in: early that morning, about half a mile away, a neighbour had seen a fox with a goose in its mouth. The goose chasers resigned themselves to the fact that the search for their beloved pet was likely over.
“We were devastated,” said Shymko, who posted the news on her Facebook and received another huge influx of messages full of support.
It seemed that the story was over, except that it definitely was not.
“The next morning when we woke up, Steve was at our back door pecking away, trying to get in our sliding doors where he would always sit,” said Shymko.
He was a bit worse for wear, missing feathers, dirty, weak, and with some blood on him, but relatively unharmed. Despite his poor state, Shymko said Steve was as happy to see her as she was to see him.
“He tried coming towards me and he fell over,” she said, fondly. “But it was amazing. We don’t know how [he escaped], but it looked like he was on a pretty big adventure.”
Steve’s return was nothing short of a miracle, especially considering he can’t fly and was spotted so far away from home.
“He’s never been out of our yard before, so how he made it home, we just keeping shaking our heads and going, how?” said Shymko. “How did he know how to get back here? Where was he for 24 hours?”
Those answers will forever remain a mystery that only Steve knows. The whole experience has certainly shaken the poor goose, leaving him timid and shy in the aftermath, but Shymko says he’s slowly getting back to his usual self with every passing day.
“The first few days [afterwards], he would just go hide and put his head in the corner, and it was so sad because he’s always such a big proud bird, and he was so defeated and sad and tired,” said Shymko. “But he’s coming around, and he’s doing really well.”
The entire ordeal has made Steve a bit of an Internet celebrity, as his story made headlines as far away as British Columbia, Calgary, and even Washington.
Shymko is still amazed at how many people have reached out to her and how popular Steve has become.
“I can’t go anywhere without people [asking about him],” she laughed. “Strangers come up to me on the street and are asking about Steve [and] I have people going, ‘oh, you should make cartoon books, and you should make t-shirts’ . . . It's kind of cute, it’s fun.”
Shymko has received emails and messages from strangers touched by Steve’s escape story, and people have asked to come out and bring him food. A Facebook page has even cropped up campaigning “Steve the Goose for Mayor of Moose Jaw,” which Shymko finds quite funny.
“I guess it’s just really a feel-good story, right now when everyone needs a good story,” she said. “And so if it’s making people feel good right now, that’s a great thing. I feel pretty good about that.”
Although a mayoral campaign may not be officially on the books for Steve the Goose, Shymko is happy to hear from people about Steve, especially as the goose in question is enjoying his recovery at home and being spoiled by his family.
