27.9.2012 | Manfred bears ten babies!
Messages of congratulation from around the world have flooded into South Australia for Manfred, a goose that had lived for much of its life as a male but is now the proud mother of ten goslings.
Manfred was reared as an orphan by two humans and a small dog and received a male name as white geese in the Gawler region are males. But tragedy struck the family when the small dog died. Manfred was somehow implicated in the death and the grieving parents wanted another dog, so Manfred was sent away to a nearby organic farm, known as The Food Forest. But Manfred had never seen geese before and was terrified of them. On the other hand he was happy to converse vigorously with humans and became a favourite amongst the many interns who have studied at the farm.
Over a period of years one of the male geese from the flock gradually befriended Manfred and to the astonishment of the farmers a HE turned into SHE and Manfred laid a clutch of eggs. Manfreds friend, now known as Casanova, took charge of the tiny yellow goslings as they hatched and is teaching them how to graze and paddle till Manfreds last gosling is ready to leave the nest and they can all live happily ever after at The Food Forest.
