06/12/2026
❤️Not all heroes wear capes❤️Sometimes they wear a life vest and jump into a pond without a second thought.
When a fisherman spotted a gosling trapped in fishing line at Apple Pond Park in Fogelsville, he knew the bird was in serious trouble💔. The gosling was tangled underwater, struggling to stay afloat, and growing weaker by the minute.😢 The fisherman sent a video to Cricket Wildlife who immediately contacted one of our incredible Capture and Transport volunteers, Barbara Miller.
Barbara grabbed her kayak and headed straight for the scene. Upon arrival, she discovered the access gate was locked, leaving no way to get the kayak close to the pond. After running several hundred yards to assess the situation, she quickly realized there was no time to go back and retrieve it. The gosling was exhausted and barely able to keep his head above water.😪
Without hesitation, Barbara put on her life vest, grabbed a pair of scissors, and entered the pond herself.
Making her way through the water, she discovered the gosling's fishing line was wrapped around submerged branches. Standing on the tangled debris beneath the surface, Barbara was able to locate the branch anchoring the line, snap it free, and lift the frightened gosling into her arms.
Then came the difficult trip back to shore...swimming, wading, and carrying a panicked wild bird that was more than willing to express its opinions with its beak😆. The only injury Barbara suffered was a bite on the arm (a small price to pay for saving a life.)
As she made her way back toward shore, Trish Burkhardt and Torey Schadler of LVCART arrived and stepped in to help secure the gosling in a carrier, allowing Barbara to safely make her way up the steep bank.🙏🏼
Because of Barbara's quick thinking, determination, and willingness to literally dive into action, this gosling was given a second chance.🙏🏼💓🙏🏼
Volunteers like Barbara are the backbone of wildlife rehabilitation. They answer the call at all hours, travel wherever they're needed, and do whatever it takes to help an animal in distress. Today, one little gosling is alive because Barbara Miller refused to walk away.
Thank you, Barbara, for always going above and beyond for wildlife.🥰
Discarded fishing line may seem harmless, but for wildlife it can be a death sentence. Birds, turtles, waterfowl, and mammals become entangled, leading to severe injuries, amputations, starvation, drowning, or prolonged suffering that often ends in death.
A single strand of abandoned fishing line can turn a peaceful pond into a deadly trap. Unlike natural materials, fishing line can persist in the environment for years, silently injuring and killing wildlife long after the fisherman has gone home.😪
See the comment section for a video of the gosling moments prior to rescue.
