Beloved goose Marco from Andijk bitten to death by fox, family flooded with flowers

“That fox came so close. They are normally very shy, but this one was not at all. We looked each other straight in the eye, but he didn’t make a sound. He was very cheeky, he just sniffed past our window,” Arno says. , the owner of the yard, know.

Normally there are alpacas in Arno’s yard. “Foxes are afraid of alpacas, those animals don’t let themselves be boxed”, Arno knows. But that one night they were just in the stable. The chickens were also safe in their coop. “You don’t lock up a goose, it should be able to go into the water.” The choice not to put him in the night loft was fatal for him. “He was bitten to death by a fox”, Arno says sadly, “I should have done it after all. He should have been four months old by now.”

Part of the family

Because goose Marco is not just a water bird: he is part of the family. When Marco was five days old, he was found by Anna, Arno’s daughter. He didn’t have a mother, so he was taken care of by the family. In the days that followed, he grew up among the chicks and hens. “It has become a very tame goose, he went everywhere with me”, Arno looks back. “My daughter was very attached to him: they went swimming together along the shoreline, running laps in the garden or feeding each other snacks.”

Marco became a household name in Andijk. “Everyone greeted him when he came whirling by. Then they shouted: ‘Hey Marco, did you have a good swim?'”

Flowers, run-up and tickets

Because Arno lives with his family on the Achterdijk in Andijk. “We always swam in the IJsselmeer in warm weather, then he went with us. Completely in his element and head down. And when we walked back home, he walked with us.” But now that Marco is gone, it is a bit quieter on the IJsselmeer and in Andijk. The death of ‘their’ goose hits hard. “His presence is sorely missed. Especially Anna is having a hard time, Marco was her buddy.” The neighborhood is also alive. “We’ve already received a lot of cards and flowers.”