Heroic 4-month-old goose alerts Texas family to overnight barn fire
An intrepid young goose woke up his owners overnight when he noticed their barn was on fire — saving the structure and the animals inside.
The 4-month-old bird aptly named Goosey had only been with the Gerber family since Mother’s Day and usually keeps to himself — but last Tuesday he sprung into action, KHOU 11 reported.
Owner Bert Gerber had fallen asleep on the couch in the middle of the night when Goosey let out several startling honks that the family had never heard before.
To his owner’s surprise, Goosey was sounding the alarm as a barn full of animals on the family’s Fort Bend County property was engulfed in flames.
Shocking surveillance footage shows the honking hero standing in front of the backyard barn ablaze.
“I just casually came outside and I saw a fire billowing out of there,” Bert recalled. “I grabbed a water hose and ran over there.”
Bert extinguished the blaze and all the animals inside of the barn were accounted for and safe.
“If I hadn’t been woken up, I think in a couple more minutes, it would have been … out of control,” Bert said.
Bert’s wife Chelsea never wanted a webbed-foot friend but the couple’s daughter Elaine fell in love with Goosey when they went to a “hug a goose” event four months ago.
“When we got him, he was so small and he was just so fluffy,” young Elaine said. “When I got to pet his head, he would just rest his head on my arm and it just made me tear up.”
The family said they are even considering a fellow webbed-foot companion — a Lucy for Goosey, the outlet reported.
“And then we’re going to get babies. I can start my own business,” Elaine said.