Homeless Vet with PTSD Comforted By Goose?

Homeless vet, park goose form unlikely friendship
Waco Tribune-Herald
BY REGINA DENNIS
November 2, 2014

In this Friday, Oct 14, 2014 photo, Dominick Garner, 23, spends time with a goose that lives along the banks of the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. Garner said he saw the goose being abused and after a few weeks gained its trust, often spending several hours a week along the banks of the river.
WACO TRIBUNE HERALD, ROD AYDELOTTE — AP Photo

WACO, TEXAS — A goose isn't the sort of animal one might expect to show affection, yet a local veteran has developed a special bond with one of the wild birds around Indian Spring Park.

Dominick Garner, 23, has been feeding ducks and geese in the park for the past few months each morning before heading to his job as a security guard.

Slowly, one of the large white geese in the gaggle of four began to follow Garner around, eagerly approaching him for food. Now, the goose will even jump on top of Garner as he lies in the grass, similar to a puppy greeting its owner.

"He came up and he let me feed him, and for a week I did that," Garner, an Army veteran, told the Waco Tribune-Herald (http://bit.ly/1077uVK). "Then he came up and started letting me pet it for longer and longer, and just started doing more with me."

Since then, Garner has taken a sort of protective role of the goose, which he said has suffered abuse from pedestrians. Garner said he's witnessed people taunt and kick at the goose as they walk by.

He doesn't know whether it's male or female, and he hasn't given it a nickname, he said. Although there's another white goose in the gaggle that looks identical to Garner's, only his pal responds to Garner's whistles and attempts to follow him when he leaves the park.

Garner noted his feathered friend is more aggressive and outgoing than the others in his group, something that has made it a bit of an outcast. Garner said he watched the geese getting into a spat in the water, nearly drowning his buddy.

Garner, a Pittsburgh native, moved to Waco after being discharged from Fort Hood in February 2012 but said he fell on hard times and became unemployed, racking up debt in the process.

He aims to save enough money through his new job at Securitas Security Services to eventually move into his own place. Garner also is receiving some assistance from the local Veterans Affairs homelessness representative to obtain treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and to apply for disability benefits.

"It gives me another outlook on life," Garner said, adding that most people would normally just walk by the geese in the park.
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