G is for Geese

This Summer I popped down to Cannon Hall Park in Cawthorne as I’d been told there were some little goslings. I wasn’t disappointed! They were absolutely beautiful and their parents didn’t mind me getting quite close for some photos.

It was then I heard a young girl shout, “Let’s scare them!” and started to run at the goslings, followed by either her younger sister or friend. I couldn’t believe what I’d just witnessed.

I walked over and asked them, “why would you want to scare them?” The eldest shrugged her shoulders rather sheepishly before running off to tell the younger one that she’d just met a horrible woman no doubt.

I made a point of sitting in the grass next to the goslings with my camera, and when I felt the girls’ eyes burning a hole in me I pointed my huge camera at them, which soon saw them off.

I do wonder why people take pleasure in scaring/hurting animals.

It has to be said, some adults are no better

One incredibly hot day this summer, again at Cannon Hall Park when the goslings and ducklings were out in force, a woman was standing under a tree with a huge black Newfoundland dog. He was panting and I said, “I bet he’s glad of the shade.” She told me that she was waiting for the ducks to swim up to this end of the river so that she could let him loose to have some fun with them. Are you kidding me? What goes on in some peoples’ minds I do not know.

It’s a growing trend I’ve seen recently, with so many people ignoring the keep your dog on a lead signs, and an attitude of their pet’s fun is more important than looking after the local wildlife, of bagging dog poo up and hanging it in trees.

When did society become so selfish?