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Goose Attack On Houston Girl Goes Viral: Child Helping Injured Gosling Thrown To The Ground By Angry Bird

By Alap Naik Desai
Published on: 10:30 PST, May 4, 2016

A Houston girl was attacked by a goose. Her sister posted a couple of photos of the poor child being thrown to the ground by the angry and territorial bird.

For 5-year-old Summer Gidden, a selfless act of compassion proved too much. According to her sister, Stevie, Summer was helping an injured gosling on a Sunday morning when the goose, probably the little bird’s mother, came charging and struck the poor child. The attack was swift and fierce, sending the girl straight towards the pavement. The photos of the attack were shared by the poor girl’s sister and they have gone viral. The tweet reads,

“Summer got attacked by a duck today & the pictures our neighbor got of it happening make me laugh so hard.”

It was a Sunday morning when Gidden said her brothers and sisters were outside playing with the neighbor’s kids, reported Click2Houston. While playing, Summer observed a few ducklings, one of which seemed injured and unable to move along with the rest of the ducklings, added the girl’s other sister,

“They were following it to make sure it was OK, and apparently, they got a little too close because the momma goose went after them.”

Perhaps sensing danger, the mother goose went after the kids. Incidentally, it was poor Summer whom the goose singled out. “Summer was the littlest and the slowest, so the goose got her,” noted Stevie.

Once the goose latched onto Summer, the latter didn’t have time to react or get away. The goose flew up and grabbed part of Summer’s hair in its beak and refused to let go. Pictures of the attack show the bird attacking Summer’s hair. The attack lasted for a few seconds, but the goose did not let go, until Summer was laying on the pavement and crying. After Stevie shared the pictures on Twitter, her tweet quickly went viral and has attracted more than 49,000 retweets and 63,000 likes so far.

The photos weren’t captured by Summer’s sister. While one of the neighbors, who saw the incident, attempted to free the little girl from the clutches of the attacking bird, another one snapped photos. “One person did stand and take pictures and one person went and rescued Summer. We aren’t thaaaat mean to her,” tweeted Stevie.

The tweet reads the attacking bird was a duck because Stevie failed to correctly identify it. Many on the internet felt the attack was hilarious and posted several similar comments and even created memes that poked fun. However, many found the images to be very cruel and mean-spirited.

Fortunately, young Summer isn’t concerned about the tweets. In fact, she is happy about the sudden fame that the internet has granted her, shared Stevie,

“She’s good now, probably won’t go near birds for a long time, but she’s good. Summer knows she’s famous and she’s eating it up. She thinks her post going viral on the internet is funny, and that’s the only thing she’s talked about today.”

The attack wasn’t harsh and the young child escaped with a few bruises and scrapes. More than the scratches, it is the mental trauma that might trouble the child for some time. Moreover, the child was attacked by the goose while she was helping the seemingly injured gosling. Many hoped that the attack doesn’t dissuade the girl from helping animals in need.

The bird that attacked Summer was later identified as a Egyptian goose. These birds are not just territorial, but also fierce protectors of their young. There have been numerous incidents where geese have charged on people. These attacking birds usually back off once they sense their territory or their brood is no longer threatened. Experts advise to get away from the bird and not provoke it further.

[Photo by Phil Inglis/Getty Images]

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