Guarding the geese—waterfowl harmed by unknown cause at reservoir

Something’s hurting waterfowl at Lake Zwerner. And local Tom Knowles is on the case.
Knowles first became aware of this in early 2020.
”I found a goose that had a fishing line on it and I thought it was accidental,” he said. “…But I could see that it wasn’t accidental. When it was young, someone had taken it and wrapped it on both legs. I tried to unwrap it, but he had wrapped it in a square knot..there were like six or seven knots on each leg, and the meat had grown around the leg…It took me at least 15 minutes to get it off. It hobbled away on its left flipper, but the right one was just dangling…eventually it fell off.”
Due to the amputation, the bird was unable to swim and eat properly. After watching the goose struggle to get to land and eat, Knowles began feeding him. He named that goose Sully, after a friend who lost a leg in Afghanistan.
“He’s the most positive go-getter guy, he doesn’t let anything stop him, and I think the same of this goose,” he said.
Eventually, Knowles hopes to get Sully a new flipper with the help of UNG Professor Jon Mehlferber.
“We’re going to put a cast on him and do a 3D Print. It’s going to be an actual flipper with bone and flesh over the top of it,” he said.
Sully, who Knowles believes is male, has had trouble bonding with other geese at the reservoir. Due to the bullying, he has been relocated to a private pond. With the new flipper, he hopes he’ll be able to return to the reservoir and find a mate.
As for any goose trappers, Knowles has tried to get local law enforcement involved, but was unsuccessful.
“The DNR’s hands are tied, unless they catch him in the act of doing it, to get him for abuse,” Knowles said. “The most they could get him for is littering if he’s just putting them on the ground.”
Meanwhile, DNR officials aren’t so sure that traps are to blame.
Corporal Shayne Brown of Georgia DNR explained the injuries could be caused by discarded fishing line.
“A couple of employees have been out there,” he said. “…Everything we have seen is not a goose trap. It’s just line from people throwing it down…like excess line from when their reels mess up or something. We have seen nothing that would indicate a goose trap.”

GOOSE CHASE?

The DNR, as described on its website, “protects, conserves, and enhances the state's natural, historic, and cultural resources for present and future generations.” It has separate divisions based on specialty. The law enforcement division would be responsible for the case, if ever opened.
“We’d start an investigation and set eyes on the traps, whatever we needed to do to see who was doing it,” said Brown. “…If it were a situation where we knew there were actual traps we’d do surveillance to see who it is. I’m assigned to Lumpkin County and I’m there all the time. We just don’t have any solid evidence of traps. Everything we’ve seen is just littering."
But, Knowles believes differently, as he said he’s come across traps that seem to be elaborately developed.
“I know it’s intentional,” he said. “[The trapper] even put corn out so they have to pass through [the trap] to get to it.”
Knowles said he recently helped two ducklings caught in one of the traps.
“This poor thing,” he said. “…You could hear it screaming out in the water and its parents were trying to cover it up…I cut it off and let him go. For a couple of days he limped but now you can't tell the difference.”
So far, only one animal has been euthanized as a consequence of the line under his watch. Now, many of the reservoir waterfowl seem to know him and willingly come up to him when he comes around.
“The neat thing is, they trust me,” he said. “They seem to know I’m trying to help them. Sully is like a pet, I come over in the morning and whistle and he’ll come up waddling next to me.”
Knowles, who declined to be photographed for this story, comes out to the reservoir every day to exercise. He said he fully intends to keep helping the animals for as long as he’s able. And he said he especially feels obligated to help his buddy Sully.
“If it had been an accident or nature doing it, I would still want to help him. But knowing someone is doing it on purpose, I just feel obligated to help him,” he said.