10 hours ago
Unfair end for fowl friend: Newfoundland town mascot Freda the Goose dies
Residents in Humber Arm South, N.L. could not have predicted what a visitor to their shores in 2018 would come to mean to them, but they're honouring her memory.
Freda the Goose died in late May, after what appears to have been an attack by an eagle while she sat on her nest, protecting her eggs.
Freda was a snow goose that the community took under its wing for the past seven years, feeding it, looking out for it, and enjoying its company.
She was a frequent guest outside of the local fish plant, and was even known to show up at the nearby Saltbox restaurant, insistently knocking at its door.
"She'd walk up the steps, and she'd tap her beak on the door, and they'd let her in," said Gloria O'Connell, a resident and fish plant worker who took a liking to Freda early on.
"She got to trust us, and she became like our little family member."
Now, O'Connell said, everyone is missing Freda, who was seen most mornings at the fish plant parking lot when workers went on their break.
"She would just amble on in between all the cars, and people would throw her little snacks. She'd come over, and she'd have her snack, and she'd squawk at us, and then she'd go on again," said O'Connell. "She was a well-loved bird."
Feathers ruffled over misnamed goose
Initially, or so the story goes, people in Humber Arm South assumed that their downy visitor was a male, and they called her Fred.
The following spring, in 2019, the goose hadn't been seen for a few days, so people went looking and discovered he was actually a she, sitting in a nest with eggs in it.
From that day onward, after being correctly identified, the goose named Freda found a special place in the hearts of fish plant workers, restaurant staff, customers and more.
She became a year-round resident of the municipality, overwintering on the shoreline under the watchful care of a few workers in particular who ensured she was fed, kept warm with blankets when needed, and who would check on her often.
Friend to all
School children at St. Peter's Academy in Benoit's Cove, in particular, had a fondness for Freda.
Leah Michelin, now in Grade 9, remembers the school bus driver pointing out the goose when it first showed up in town.
"We would be on the bus home from school, and we would pass the fish plant every day, and we'd see Freda, or we thought he was Fred at the time," said Michelin. "We loved it. We got to see him every day, and everyone would get excited."
Cherry Harbin, vice-principal of St. Peter's Academy, says the town's resident goose was often the focus of a story or visual art when the students were given the opportunity.
"We would see it sometimes, if students were doing drawings or pictures about their community, she would pop up in the pictures," said Harbin.
Harbin said students even co-wrote a song about Freda during a visit to the school by Phil Churchill and Geraldine Hollett of musical trio The Once under the ArtsSmarts program.
Freda was immortalized in song and entrenched as a part of community folklore.
A goose's swan song
So it was inevitable that word of Freda's passing in late May spread quickly through the area.
"We're all quite upset about it," said O'Connell. "Everybody here is in a sombre mood."
"A lot of the kids are really shocked," said Michelin. "Some of the little kids were sad."
Freda was buried on the beach where she spent most of the past seven years, along with some corn and bread, two of the things she loved the most.
On the shoreline, people have erected a metal cross with a plaque in Freda's memory, to let passersby know that she lived there and that her spirit has now taken flight.
