Goose on the loose: Gosling flees from Lenexa police during rescue
A feathered frenzy on a busy Kansas City highway recently led to a real-life wild goose chase for Lenexa police and animal control officers — and yes, fowl play was involved.
A gaggle of goslings had gathered near Kansas 10 and Interstate 435 about 9 a.m. on April 27, said Master Police Officer Danny Chavez, a spokesman for the Lenexa Police Department.
The brood was causing a flap, leading to multiple calls to police about a family of geese on the highway, Chavez said. When the animal control officer found them, the brood was closer to West 95th Street and Interstate 35, near Westgate Street and Lenexa Drive.
Chavez said they were off the highway but still in danger of traffic, even though it was a Sunday morning. Two police officers also responded as reinforcement because of the traffic, and the goslings started scattering.
“There were four goslings,” Chavez said. “Unfortunately, the parent, or the adult they were with had some pretty significant injuries, so it had to be euthanized.”
That’s when police and animal control hatched a plan to round up the goslings and release them at a pond by the nearby Sam’s Club where “a ton of geese” live, Chavez said.
“One of the things our animal control officer was aware of is that goslings can often be taken in by other geese parents or blend in with other gosling groups,” Chavez said. “That’s kind of like a goose community there, so we felt safe releasing those four.”
During the rescue, a gosling tried to flee from officers, leading to a short pursuit.
“Everything was going smoothly until one little rebel decided he wasn’t going back . . . Rumor has it he had a warrant,” Lenexa police said in a post on Facebook, along with a video of the chase. “Don’t worry, our officer was hot on his tail and justice (and safety) prevailed.”
Chavez said it took about 10 minutes to round up all of the goslings.
“So, yeah, it was kind of a fun morning,” Chavez said. “It’s not often we’re chasing geese like that, but we did want to get them to a safe place so that they didn’t get injured.”
