In the nick of time.

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The gosling was on its last grains of strength and it was obviously abandoned, as the parents were nowhere to be seen.
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No chance that he would make it if I didn't find him.

In fact I was told that there were two of them and the other one was found dead earlier that morning. We have seen before that this was not a good place for the geese to have babies, as there are many raptor birds that fly in to scoop the babies up out of the water. So the parents must have abandoned the last two in fear of their own lives.

Note: Due to power cuts, I had to do a shorter post today, but also a good one. For the followers of the Franschhoek Motor Museum, I will do the contents of Hall 3 on Thursday.

This was where I found him and I knew immediately that something was wrong, as normally they scatter at speed when humans come near them.
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So I gently touched him and the brave little fella tried to make a get-away.
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I followed him at a discreet distance, as he went along at a very slow pace and I didn't want to scare him.
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But I knew that sooner or later he would come to the side again, and I circled around ahead of him. At a distance, of course.
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And finally he came towards the side.
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So I got him and in the process I messed some water on my camera lens.
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Nothing that a quick wipe of the lens on my shirt couldn't fix and you can see how malnourished and tired he was.
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Luckily for this little guy I found some help for him, as there is a bio-diversity manager on the farm that I did not know about. I walked into the wine cellar building with the little one and asked at the reception if they had an emergency number for me to call as the little one was almost kaput.
A young guy brought a small box and said that I should put him inside the box, as the reception would call the bio-diversity manager to take care of him. Another guy walked in and he said that he found another one dead this morning, but he didn't see this one.
According to the oohs and the aahs, I could see that they were caring people and they assured me that the little gosling would be taken care of.
So, I left with a happy heart!

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

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89 comments
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I had a little duck like this when I was a kid

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Cooling off in small ponds best suited for ducks on hot summer days

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Yes, ponds are great for ducks on hot summer days and they are also great feeding spots for the raptors.

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You saved this little guy's life. Nice.

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Like I said before, my friend, we help where we can. Whether its man or beast.

!PIZZA

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Little one looks hungry and exhausted, good news someone on the farm has knowledge on how to assist.

Egyptian goose may come greet you in near future healthy and happy once again.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Oh yes, he was almost done, and it was so great to know that he will be placed in caring hands.

I so pray that that would happen, but it is a long shot.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Resilient and feisty sure to recover after a little TLC.

!WINEX

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The little thing will surely soon be up and about again.

!WINEX

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(Edited)

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That's great. Geese make wonderful guard dogs.

Your good deed for the day will be returned back many times.

Best wishes :-)

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Oh yeah! Glad that you liked it, and geese are certainly very good property protectors.

Thanks, but we just continue to help wherever we can.

Best wishes also to you.

!PIZZA

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This story made my day, Zac, I'm so happy that you have found this little guy and also people who care 😊

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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It is the greatest complement, to me to make someone's day, Hannes😊

I was certainly blessed to find someone there that could take care of the little one.

Cheers and thanks.

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You honestly have, my friend, after a long day with many things that didn't work as planned, I really enjoyed your story 😊

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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I know that you are an honest guy and every now and then the mountain goat tricks come out, but we have to have fun on here.
Everyone here is walking around with long faces, as the power cuts have a psychological, negative influence on everyone, but we simply battle on with a smile.😊

Cheers and thanks.

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Right, we have to have fun and the mountain goat tricks aren't that bad, or are they 😂 !LOLZ

I just said in the other comment that I wouldn't take the power cuts as easy as you do, and I am sure that my face would be as long or even longer than your people over there.

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Right I am back and hello Hannes,

Oh no, instead I love the mountain goat tricks 🤣 !LOLZ

A difficult thing to cope with my friend and if it was only the power cuts and the losses to the economy to cope with, we could manage. The sad thing is that criminals also see the power cuts as a bonus, as all alarms and lights are switched off. So one has to be very careful and it creates added stress.

Cheers and thanks.

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Hi Zac,

now I'm glad because I thought I have to start behaving myself 😂 !LOLZ

Oh yes, I forgot about these bad guys who take advantage of the darkness to steal hard earned things from honest people. Luckily we don't have an alarm, so this will not be a problem ... and luckily there's nothing valuable to find here.
Sarkasm aside, it must be a really stressful situation when you are at home in the dark and someone could break in your house at any time.

Hope you have had a lovely Sunday afternoon although there was no power 🌞

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Hi Hannes,

Sorry, but the power cuts prevent me from both posting and still doing the replies on time.

No, I don't like to have friends that behave themselves, as that is not normal 🤣 !LOLZ

Danger is all around these days, even in broad daylight and one has to keep an eye out constantly. We have a great method, as we move together and Marian watches my back when I take photos.
She has a panic button and she has already warned me a few times when shady characters, especially at the beach, try to get close to me.
Pray that you guys will never get into a situation like this my friend.

Cheers and thanks.

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Hi again Zac,

posting is more important for you, I believe, so forget the replies - they can be done later.

Right, we don't want to be normal 😂 !LOLZ

That doesn't sound good to me - it's like situations we only see in movies. Maybe in our big cities like Vienna or in some foreign countries I would also take care and have a look at the people around me. But of course, we have criminals here too, and you're certainly not safe when you walk through the town at night.

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Hi again Hannes,

Yes, I do the posting as a priority, but I also see the replies as important and if I leave some for later then I will be building a mountain of replies. Not only that, but people will start to think that I don't regard their efforts as important and they will not be happy. It is a fine balance as you well know 😉

Normal is for normal people and I know that we will get sick if we try to become normal people. I have tried once and I almost died 🤣 !LOLZ

Yes, you know your local turf and it sounds very sedate. One of the major troubles here is that criminals from other areas travel around in cars in the neighborhoods and they strike when they see a car pulling out from a house. Now I don't want to tell you what they do, as it ends up in a terrible situation.
Such is life here my friend.

Cheers and thanks.

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Yep, hi again Zac,

I know and that's one reason why I have left Twitter at least for a while: I spent hours daily on the commenting and replying. I don't comment a lot here just for this reason too, but I reply to every comment.

Such criminals are here too. Mostly they come from the eastern countries and not many get caught because they do their job and are gone.

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Hi again Hannes,

I can only nip into Twitter to share a post and I think that my replies on there are singular. No time with the power cuts and now again I have to leave here in a rush. Comments are different as it shows that we value people so you are doing the right thing 😉

They call them hit and run artists, but the good thing here is that the security companies working with the police catch them on the two roads that lead out of the town.

Cheers and thanks.

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Hi Zac,

Twitter is very exhausting and although I like many people there, I can't find the time for it at the moment.

Some they catch here, but many leave and come back.

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Hi Hannes,

That's why I am not very active on twitter as it might sound easy, but it's time consuming 😉
Besides, I don't like to talk much. I think that you and I chat the most and that's more than enough for me. At home I do maybe 100 words per day and the wife does 10,000 🤣 !LOLZ

Oh yes, the criminals also keep on updating their plans strike and escape.

Cheers, thanks and I hope that you will have a good day!

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I do not know how they all do it. I am also on Vero (vero.co) and although it's much better than Twitter, it's very time consuming too.

You're completely right and I'm talking about the same at home as you do ... and my wife does at least 10,000 words too 😁 !LOLZ

My day was busy, but better than yesterday because I could stay in the office and do a lot of work. Hope you also have had a good day, my friend 🌞

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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I think that some of them spend all or most of their time on twitter Hannes. No idea about Vero, as I have never been on it. Also don't plan to go on it 😉

Seems like we are not the greatest of communicators my friend, but I can tell you that we are champion communicators with our own minds. The wives only broadcast their thoughts out loud 🤣 !LOLZ

Don't get so much time to stay and do all our work due to the power cuts. It is raining here and during one of the power cuts we popped down to the sea for me to take some photos. Got some nice shots and will share them soon. I first have to edit them in Photoshop 🤣🤣🤣

Cheers and thanks.

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Vero is like Instagram, but it feels better - there are no ads and it's all about photography.

Oh yes, I can only agree, especially with the loudness of their communication 😂 !LOLZ

Haha, you edit in Photoshop, that's a good one 😁

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
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Now you might not believe this, but I don't know Instagram either. I don't do social media sites, although there is a FB site that belongs to The Papillon Foundation. Also rarely visited by me.

Hahaha, it is the loudness that drives me bonkers 🤣 !LOLZ

More like Fish and Chips shop 🤣🤣🤣

Cheers and thanks.

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Oh you lucky one, I wished I had never signed up to any social media sites, but maybe then I would never have found the Hive 😒

The loudness and sometimes the sound of their voices 😂 !LOLZ

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Nope, no go, as I rather keep on doing my own thing. Maybe old time habits and over here, the more that you expose yourself, the more vulnerable you become to attention seekers. And of course also open to those that have dark motives. A Greek friend told me about Hive and so I joined. Sadly his blog never took off and he left after a few months, but I figured that Hive is a long time thing 😉

High pitched sounds that make even the cats jealous 🤣 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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You're certainly right, but if you take care it should be alright, and I do not provide private things.

I think cats would be quiet and run away 🤣 !LOLZ

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Nope, I know that you are careful, but I just don't have the time to spend on so many things 😉

Especially when the water from the firehoses start to flood the apartment's floor. The cats might be hanging on the light fittings on the ceiling 🤣 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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And I wished I had never started posting on social media 😂 !LOLZ

Haha, I have just imagined a couple of drunk firefighters with the firehose in the flooded apartment and the cats hanging on the lamp in our living room 😂 !LOLZ

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Thank you for your witness vote!
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In all honesty, I did post on FB for a time in the early days when I started on the PC in 2002, but soon realized that it was not for me. So I simply stopped and I have never returned. Never been on Instagram or other chat things and I am also scarce on Discord 😜 !LOLZ

Hahaha, What a great imagination that you have, as I can also see it now 😁 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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In th ebeginning I posted regularly on FB and I played a stupid game there, but I haven't been there since more than 10 years, I believe ... I don't miss it 😂 !LOLZ

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Great that you don't miss it and they keep on chasing me to place more Papillon posts. 1 per year is more than enough for me, as it just shows that Papillon is still going on 😁 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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👍😀 !LOLZ

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Thank you for your witness vote!
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I can remember years ago, I was driving down the road when I saw a little duckling trying to climb the kerb. I stopped because it couldn’t get off the road. I couldn’t find his or her family on the reservoir, so I nipped into the nearby factory to ask for a box. I was going to take it to the vets who tend to pass lost strays to animal sanctuaries.

Here I was with several burly chaps trying to find me a box. One of them told me that he could take the duckling to his dad as he knew all about ducks. It turned out that his dad had looked after lost ducklings before and even managed to hatch deserted eggs, so he was quite knowledgeable. I left the duckling in good hands. It was just like a jigsaw puzzle that just fitted together.

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What a wonderful story, Lady Julie. The problem that we have is that if we take them to the vets, the vets have the tendency to put the animals down. In some cases, they can really do no more for them as they are not equipped with the infrastructure to save animals.

The last time that we took one there, was a Pied Crow and its right leg was broken. So now the Pied Crow is no more.
There are special animal rehabilitation centers here, and we now have a list of them with contact details. The sad thing is that they receive so many calls that they can't help everybody all of the time, so I was really lucky - like you in your story - to get the little goose the help that he needed.

Btw. Burly guys normally have very good hearts, especially when they see a female 🤣

!PIZZA

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Yes, I agree with you about some vets putting them to sleep. You have to do a bit of research about them and choose wisely.

Burly guys - 😁

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Thank you and we have also noticed that. Always best to go through the proper contacts to get them help. Sadly, not so many of them around.

!PIZZA

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So glad you happened upon this little one at the right time. I have a soft spot for the orphaned or forsaken babies. Thank you for your kind heart!

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(Edited)

Thank you, and I was also so glad that I could get to him in time, but it like they all say, I was at the right place at the right time. I think these times are designed to test our hearts.

!PIZZA

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Aawww so great you saved the little fellow. Well done Zac.
Hope he was taken care of 😊👋🏻

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this yet again shows what a kind and caring person you are, without your help that sweet little thing probably had no chance of surviving

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Specially i love as like little duck. I have twenty giving egg duck.

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