Boy’s deadly attack on geese horrifies onlookers

A Coon Rapids woman intervened when she saw a teenage boy beating a flock of geese with a stick, but not before a gosling was dead.

By MARY LYNN SMITH, Star Tribune

Last update: May 28, 2009 - 7:26 AM

Sandy Slathar doesn't even like geese all that much.

But when she looked out her Minneapolis office window Tuesday and saw a teenage boy grab a stick and attack a flock of geese along the Mississippi River, the 47-year-old Coon Rapids woman tore down four flights of stairs to defend the fowl.

The adult geese and their brood of more than a dozen goslings have become a nice diversion for Slathar and her co-workers, who watch them wander the shoreline from their offices.

So they were stunned when they saw the boy get off his bike and chase the geese, slashing and stabbing at them. Slathar instructed her co-workers to call police as she ran out the front door. By the time she got to the boy, he was at the river's edge, throwing stuff at the geese that had scampered into the water. A dead gosling floated nearby.

"It was really disgusting,'' Slathar said. "I kept asking him, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I didn't mean to.' And I said, 'What's wrong with you.' And he said. 'I don't know.'"

Although the boy was taller than the 5-foot-5 Slathar, she grabbed him, telling him to stay with her until police arrived.

"He tried to grab the bike and we wrestled a bit," Slathar said. Taking hold of the bike, she told him if he ran, she would follow on his wheels. Then she pointed to her co-workers who were peering from the window.

"There's no getting away. They can all watch you for a long ways, the police already are on their way and you will be caught,'' Slathar said.

As she began to question her own safety, she escorted the boy to the top of the hill and onto the walking path where her co-workers could see her better. He said nothing and showed no remorse, Slathar said. "This is the worse part of it," she said. "There was no emotion, nothing in his eyes. Nothing. "

When police arrived, the 14-year-old was arrested for cruelty to animals and later released to his mother.

Although her co-workers have now dubbed her "Mother Goose," Slathar remains ambivalent about the birds themselves. "I mean, they're OK but they're just dumb, mean, kind of icky and poop all over," she said.

But Slathar couldn't help flex her muscles in their defense. "I can't stand anybody being mean to anything, for no reason."

Mary Lynn Smith • 612-673-4788

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