In a touching display of interspecies camaraderie at the University of Cincinnati, biology students played the role of urban shepherds to a family of Canada geese, as they have done for the past five years. This annual event was captured by student photographer Emma Hite of the Bearcats Student Creative Agency, showcasing the rescue efforts by students along with UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Theresa Culley and Professor Kenneth Petren.
The ritual, termed "goose watch" by Culley, involves vigilant students monitoring and then swiftly acting when goslings hatch atop a sixth-floor skyway bridge nestled between Crosley Tower and Rieveschl Hall. Students utilized brooms to ensure the yellow bundles of fluff safely entered a cardboard container for transport down to the ground level, as documented in a report by the University of Cincinnati's news site.
The anxious parents, upon hearing the characteristic peeps of their offspring below, descended to reunite with their young. This sequence of tender moments, set against the backdrop of urban academia, culminated with the goose family's triumph in navigating their way across the Martin Luther King Drive, making their way to the sanctuary of the pond in Burnet Woods.
"We call it goose watch," Culley said of their vigilant efforts. The purposeful mission reflects a harmony between the students' learning and their sense of guardianship for the campus's feathered denizens. The baby geese, oblivious to the urban hazards surrounding their unconventional nesting site, are chaperoned year after year in what has become a heartwarming UC tradition.
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