Original subtitles

[film projector rattling]

[soft classical music]

[keyboard clacking]

NARRATOR: The unknown.

The unexpected.

The world stopped, and we withdrew.

Behind masks, behind closed doors,

not knowing when we would reemerge.

Heroes appeared.

And they faced the challenge.

We were isolated.

Alone.

But life? It can truly surprise you.

When you least expect it.

And offer hope.

[Cheryl imitating goose honking]

Honk, come here.

Honk, Honk.

Here he comes.

- Come here! Come on! - [Honk honking]

[Cheryl imitating goose honking]

Hi!

[Honk honking]

Hi!

Come on, hi!

Come on up here.

[Honk honking]

NARRATOR: And sometimes, that hope that you are looking for?

Is in the form of a goose.

[Honk honking]

CHERYL: How did I meet Honk?

I will never forget.

I was taking a walk along a park that's in my neighborhood.

It opens up into a really beautiful pond.

And, I had started taking these walks every day

because everything was shutting down in Dallas,

and, my gosh, cities across the country.

And we were wearing masks, and we're social distancing,

and we're not supposed to see our family or friends,

and everyone's working from home

and it was such a confusing and scary time.

And the one thing that, you know, um,

was being recommended was, you know, go outside,

and, you know, you could take a...

take a socially distant walk.

So, that's what I did.

I thought, "Well I'm... You know, I'm gonna start taking walks.

"Mentally and physically, it'll be good for me."

I live in an area that has some really beautiful parks.

I was taking a walk along the creek, uh,

that runs through the park,

and then it opens up into this really beautiful pond.

And I was sitting there, you know, taking in the pond,

and, um, taking a picture.

And all of a sudden, I hear this...

this like, bizarre honking sound.

I never heard anything like it before.

And I turn, and I see this goose,

running as fast as he can, directly towards me.

And, uh, I was really... You know, it freaked me out.

I started to kinda run away from him.

I mean, I didn't know what he was gonna do.

I... And I have to tell you, I've never been around a goose.

I'm a city girl, and I was like, you know,

kinda just sort of froze, and he came up to me,

honking, honking, honking, like he knew me.

I immediately, you know, had my phone,

and started videoing him and taking a picture.

So, I'm on a walk, and this little one is not

practicing social distancing at all.

Are you lonely and missing people?

Huh?

- [Honk honking] - Yeah, I hear ya.

It's tough, innit?

- [Honk honking] - I know.

It'll end soon.

And I kinda talked to him for a little bit.

And then, you know, started to head back home.

And he starts following me.

And I cross the street to where, you know, to head home,

and he crosses the street after me

and starts running in the middle of the street, in traffic.

And [laughs], I mean, cars are stopping, it's a spectacle.

And I was, like,

"I can't leave this goose in the middle of the street,

"chasing me," so I turned around,

and I guided him back to the park.

I kinda coaxed him down by the water, and he went in,

and was bathing a little bit,

and you know, when he was sort of,

had his head under the water,

I ran, and I literally hid behind a bush.

And he looked around, he started honking,

he seemed a little panicked, and then he went about his day.

He went... He swam off.

So I headed home and, uh,

I just could not get this goose out of my head.

I mean, it was the most bizarre thing

that had ever happened to me.

So, I went back the next day and found him,

you know, swimming in the pond.

And I just started to kind of call for him.

I made this honking sound, and...

and I'm sure people thought I was crazy,

but, um, he immediately, his head perks up,

and he starts honking, and he swims as fast as he can to me.

So, I'm here to see Honk, and I wanted to introduce you.

I just called for him, and he's going nuts.

Honk! Come on, baby! Swim across.

He's coming.

Come on!

Honk!

Here he comes.

[Honk honking]

Can you see him?

Here he comes.

Come on, Honk.

Let me try to turn this around.

Aw, I missed you.

Hi, Honk.

Hi!

I know!

How are you?

Oh, my God, he's so cute, isn't he guys? Look.

Hi Honk! These are my friends.

You get to meet them on Facebook.

I told them all about you.

Oh, look, he's drawing his wings.

[Cheryl gasps]

You're so pretty.

I kid you not, he was across the pond.

All I do is say, "Honk, Honk," and here he comes.

I just met this goose, two days ago.

I started calling him Honk

because he talks so much and so loud.

And we kind of just sat there for the afternoon,

and he wouldn't leave my side.

I had posted some videos and pictures of Honk on Facebook,

and I sent it to my friend, Judy, who lives in New York.

And she's a big animal rights activist and animal lover,

and she immediately said,

"Cheryl, that's a domestic goose.

"That goose does not belong at a park."

And I'm like, "What does that even mean, a domestic goose?"

And she said, "Oh, it was probably raised on a farm,

"but it can't fly."

That... It looks like a Toulouse Goose

was the kind of goose Honk is.

And I was like, "Well, how did he get there?"

And she goes, "Well, probably somebody dumped him."

And I'm like, "What?"

And like, I had never even heard of that.

I had never... I was so ignorant.

I had never even heard about dumping ducks.

So Judy really said, "You know, you need to think about

"possibly getting him to a sanctuary."

And, I didn't know the first thing about doing that,

so she recommended that I call a friend of hers

named Mary Beth, who does a lot of rescues

in the New York area.

I wanted to talk to you today

to kind of just give you an update of...

of where I am with Honk.

So, since the last time we corresponded,

I know you... you were really, strongly, encouraging me

to relocate him to... to an animal sanctuary

or a rescue for his own safety and well-being.

Um, since then, I have found out...

And, you know, I go to the park almost every day

to visit him, and I was talking to...

to some other park goers.

So, they have told me that he has a mate.

- [Cheryl scoffing] - Right?

And I was like, "Well, I have never seen this mate."

And apparently she's a white goose,

which that would be domestic, right?

Yeah. Unless it was a snow goose.

But if... if it's with him,

I'm sure it's a... it's a domestic goose.

They were probably dumped together.

Oh, God. Okay.

Well, I've never seen her,

but they said that a lot of times during this...

this time of year, that she's up the creek,

usually sitting on a nest.

So here's sort of my predicament now.

I don't want to... to try to relocate him without his mate,

if he does have a mate.

Um, and to add a little bit of more stress on to this,

you know, I've been posting a lot of videos of Honk and I.

We have this great camaraderie with each other.

You know, he sits over my shoulder,

and he just talks while we do these videos.

So, he's gone a bit viral.

We've been on the news, uh, his videos are going viral,

and he's getting pretty well-known,

especially in this area.

We just got off an interview with The Dodo!

Now, for those of you who don't know what The Dodo is,

it's a big media company out of New York

that does all of the amazing animal videos

that are so cute on social media.

They have 25 million followers

and their videos get hundreds of thousands of views.

And they wanted to interview this guy.

- Didn't they? Yes! Yes! - [Honk honking]

Oh, and he did so well. Didn't you? Did you do good?

- [Honk honking] - Yeah. God, he did really good.

I was being contacted by some schools

that were having to have virtual learning, you know,

the kids were at home.

But Honk and I, you know, are Zooming with school children,

and talking about our story.

And, you know, here's Honk, you know,

he would sit like right up over my shoulder.

He looked like a little muppet.

And the kids loved it.

[Mary Beth] Well, you know what?

Now you've got... you've got a couple of things going on.

He's not wild, and if he has that mate, she's not wild.

Um, to remove him now,

that you found out that he has a mate would not be a good thing.

You have to find out where the mate is.

See if you can find where that nest is.

If she's laid eggs, then you've got another issue.

You know, you don't want to remove them

and then leave the eggs.

Um, it's a... it's a sticky situation coupled with,

like you just said, he's going viral.

He's... he's becoming this incredible ambassador

to so many others that are found in parks.

But you've got the issue of him being so popular now,

and people know where he is.

That's creating more of a danger for him, and that scares me.

So, um, and [indistinct] me.

So what you really need to do is find out if there is a mate,

where she is, and then maybe take it from there.

CHERYL: With that knowledge, I thought,

"Well, I'm not going to try to rescue Honk or...

"or get him to a sanctuary,"

uh, with knowing that he had a mate there.

So, I just started hanging out with Honk every day.

And I noticed that his surroundings,

there was so much trash in the pond

and along the bank and...

and in the grass from where people have,

you know, picnics and things like that.

And so one day, I brought a trash bag

and Honk followed me around the entire pond,

cleaning up his environment.

So, I got that.

That could easily go in his foot.

He could eat it.

It could get stuck in his throat, which would kill him.

It's just, uh, so concerning.

I gotta... I gotta look for a home for him.

- Definitely. - [Honk honking]

We did good. We picked up all the trash.

Let's go throw it away now, come on, let's go.

- [Honk honking] - Let's go. Come on!

[Honk honking]

It was amazing.

People were stopping and talking to us

because here I am, cleaning up this trash

and this goose is sort of overseeing it.

You know, he's honking at me, you know,

like telling me if I'm doing it right or something.

And so, those were our days.

We've just spent an hour and a half cleaning up trash

along the creek.

And I have to tell you,

I brought a 40 gallon trash bag and I filled it up.

It's crazy.

I, uh... What did we pick up?

An umbrella, tons of Styrofoam.

A pin, caps, plastic bottles, um,

tons of fishing lures and hooks and lines.

But Honk walked with me the entire way.

And, you know, setting an example

to clean up after ourselves, right?

[Honk honking]

Yeah, see, he feels very passionate about it, woo!

People will buy these little... They call them Easter ducks,

the little baby ducks for their kids at Easter or as a gift.

And it's really cute, and then the duck grows up,

and it's hard to keep, you know, it takes a lot to have a duck.

And so, they'll take them to a park or a pond,

and then they'll leave them there to live out their life.

And they're not doing it to be mean,

it's really they... they're ignorant about it.

They don't realize that that's not good

because these ducks or geese have been raised as pets or...

or a farm animal.

They're used to being taken care of, used to being fed.

So the one thing about when people dump ducks and geese is,

um, their nutrition.

And geese eat grass,

and that's where the majority of their nutrition comes from.

But, you know, of course,

kids and families love to feed them bread,

uh, and that's like junk food to geese.

It's not good for them. It has no nutritional value.

And what it does is it fills them up,

and then they don't eat the rest of the day.

A lot of times these domestic geese, like Honk,

their diet will be supplemented with some waterfowl pellets.

And that's what I have here.

And they're really nutritional,

with a great balance of protein and different things.

So he loves it.

So this is actually very healthy for him.

And then they have to deal with things

that can happen in the wild,

whether it, you know, be a dog that could get off its leash

and... and go after them, hurt them,

um, unfortunately, humans.

So it's Memorial Day weekend,

and I was driving over to see Honk

and there's some people having picnics here

and there was one group of about 25, maybe 30 young adults.

They look maybe mid, late 20s, um, drinking pretty heavily.

I hadn't even gotten out of my car yet

and I saw Honk walking along the shoreline of the...

the creek and the guys went over there,

started taunting him and, you know, trying to...

to act aggressive towards him.

They weren't touching him, but they wanted Honk...

They were trying to provoke him to start to come at 'em.

Honk was, um, obviously distressed.

And so I got out and, you know, pretty much made a scene.

A lot of fishermen fish in these ponds and...

and these ducks and geese will get wrapped up

in fishing line or... or a hook.

He stepped on fishing wire, and it wrapped around his foot.

So I was here, and I was able to get it off of him.

But what if I wasn't?

We got to do better people.

Person that dumped him, or him and the mate, I...

You know, I don't think it was a malicious thing.

Most times it's not.

I think people just don't understand that,

"Oh, wait a minute, this is not a wild bird."

- Right. - You know,

can't take care of themselves.

They need us. That's domestic animals, live close to humans

because they depend on humans for survival.

Some geese that are dumped in these city parks

or wherever are stuck there,

and they are bred like the ducks.

A lot of the ducks, the geese, they're bred for food.

They're too heavy.

They're not... Physiologically, they're different.

They can't fly.

So once you dump these domestic,

it's like dumping your cat or dog.

That's what a domestic animal is different

from a wild animal.

So Honk would be like a farm animal.

Exactly. He's a farm animal.

CHERYL: I went every day to visit Honk.

And it was obvious he needed me and was lonely.

♪ Close your eyes, close your eyes ♪

♪ Close your eyes little Honk ♪

♪ Close your eyes, now, close your eyes ♪

♪ 'Cause it's time to go to sleep ♪

♪ Close your eyes, close your eyes ♪

♪ Close your eyes, little goose ♪

♪ Close your eyes, now, close your eyes ♪

♪ And time to dream ♪

♪ Sweet dreams ♪

I just sang him to sleep.

So during this time when...

when Honk was going viral and being... Becoming this,

you know, little celebrity goose,

um, I had still never seen this white goose that...

that everyone was telling me at the park was his mate.

So the more popular Honk got,

the more worried I got that I needed to...

to get him to some type of safe sanctuary.

Also, he was very lonely.

I could tell he was lonely, um,

and so I went searching up the creek one day.

So, when I first met Honk, um, you know,

I was told by many people that he had a mate,

and it was a white goose.

So I started to kind of do a little investigation myself.

And I've been walking in a lot of the wooded areas

of the creek.

And today, I found her and her remains,

and she was on a nest.

[Cheryl sighing]

And I just feel so bad for him.

People have sent me pictures of them together

and my God, they were inseparable, everybody said.

So, that's the update.

[nature din]

[somber piano instrumental]

♪♪♪

In talking to some other neighbors that visited the pond,

they said they had seen her back in March,

and she had, like, a lump on her throat.

And so she could have swallowed some type of foreign object,

maybe a, you know, a fishing bobber, or lure,

or something like that and it lodged in her throat.

He latched on to me as sort of his person

while he was grieving.

♪♪♪

So I came to visit Honk today, and I find him in the street,

drinking water from the street.

This is why I have to find him a home.

- [Honk honking] - Honey, honey, it's okay.

You deserve better. Come on, let's go.

We gotta get him back to the park.

Come on. Come on. Come on.

Let's go.

As soon as I knew, you know, knew that he was alone,

I... I knew right away

that I needed to find him a safe place to be.

So, I started researching

different types of animal rescues

and sanctuaries in the Dallas area.

So I'm on my way to the Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

I talked with Kathy Rogers, who is the founder of it,

and she's very well known in our area. She's amazing.

She rehabilitates wild birds and is able to re release them.

And she also has about 15, uh,

15 to 20 domestic geese

and lots of ducks there on her property.

So, um, you know, it's like a duck heaven.

So I'm going to see if it's a good fit for Honk.

She's already said that she'd be willing to take him.

And it's only 20 minutes from where I live,

so I would be able to visit him

and even volunteer for the center.

So, I'm really excited and, you know,

can't wait to... to meet her

because this would be really, really huge for Honk.

And the most important thing is, well, two things.

Number one, he's safe.

And number two, he would have lots of friends

because he definitely needs that.

So we'll see.

KATHY: The reason I started doing this is

I have a love of animals, all animals, but especially birds.

And it started back in the early '80s

when a young neighborhood boy brought me

a tiny morning dove.

And I knew nothing about birds, that kind of care.

And it seemed like a challenge, which I took on.

And it has grown over the years

to become close to six thousand birds a year

come through the rehab center.

And it's, uh, a labor of love, no doubt,

and I have a fantastic team of people

that absolutely are committed and have the same love

and devotion that I do, which is what makes it successful.

There's two kinds of birds,

the domestic birds and the wild birds.

And it's true with waterfowl,

there's the wild ducks and geese.

And then there's the domestic ones

that everybody has on their neighborhood pond.

The ones that are purchased for Easter gifts,

which couldn't be a worse gift to give a child

because then it usually gets dumped at the neighborhood pond

or lake, and it's totally ill-equipped to survive

in the wild.

No skills, imprinted to people,

depend on people for food and for safety,

and things usually do not end well for them.

The misconception with birds, I have found over the years,

is people are not aware

that they can form emotional attachments, and usually do.

And I hear more than once,

"Oh, that bird doesn't know one person from the next."

And... Which is completely not true

because somebody can walk up to the cage

or to their enclosure, and they react in a positive way,

or they just turn and walk away.

So they totally know people.

So when an animal is dumped,

you're separating him from his family, basically.

And it's a whole adjustment for them to, you know,

first they go through sadness and then they go...

And you can see it, and some birds pick their feathers.

There's all kinds of psychotic behaviors that happen.

Some get very aggressive just out of sheer frustration.

And it's... it's a problem.

It's not just cats and dogs that get sad and depressed,

and who knows what else happens,

but birds are very, very sensitive to everything.

The emotional attachment cannot help but grow

because when the animals come into us,

they come with a problem.

We wouldn't get them

if everything in their world was perfectly fine.

We get them because they have either been abused

or they're in a situation where they're in danger,

or just a myriad of reasons.

But, our goal is to get them back to a situation mentally

and physically where they can survive and be happy.

And sometimes, and it's just like with children,

the process is long and arduous,

and it's, uh, you do get attached to 'em

because you have an emotional investment,

and what people don't realize

is these animals attach to people as well.

I have to say, and this is not necessarily a good thing,

but I have never turned a bird away, ever.

There's always room for one more.

You just make it happen.

This is Pearl, I've named her Pearl.

She's an Easter duck that was dumped in the park.

Somebody saw the, the, uh...

The owners pulled up, dumped her out of the car.

So another car came up and got her, and brought here,

to the Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Now she's going to be okay.

But look, she don't know she's a duck.

This is why it's not good to dump domestic ducks.

Just stop buying 'em, for God's sakes.

KATHY: So the domestic animals that are brought into us

are allowed to roam free during the day

and swim on our lake, and then we put them up at night

to keep them safe from predators.

That's how I get them into a protected shelter every night.

We let 'em out, roam around during the day,

and now we put them up at night.

Let's go home! Everybody, let's go!

[honking and quacking]

RUSTY: Left turn, let's go.

- [Rusty shouting] - [honking and quacking]

[upbeat acoustic instrumental]

♪♪♪

[rooster crowing]

CHERYL: If I could freeze time, I would.

I would freeze time right here with you.

[water splashing]

But that wouldn't be good for you, no.

I'mma get you into a beautiful place.

You're gonna be so happy!

- [Cheryl gasping] - [Honk honking]

Yes, yes, yes!

Oh, it's gonna be so great. It's gonna be so great.

I did not sleep the night before I was going to rescue him.

I was, you know, I was scared.

I thought, "Oh, he's gonna be so scared."

And what happens if I can't get him? And all of this.

And so, I went... I went with a couple of friends

and had a crate, so I could, you know, he'd be safe.

I went down and was trying to feed him

some waterfowl pellets that he likes,

which is good for him that I had bought.

I just swept him up as fast as I could,

you know, held his little neck.

And it was like, "It's okay. It's okay."

And I think he was just sort of shocked.

And, um, I got him in the crate,

and we got him in the backseat safely and,

you know, headed off.

I got Honk. He's safe, we have him now in the carrier,

and we're going to take him to his new home.

[automated voice] Starting route

to Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

There we go, we're starting route to Rogers Wildlife.

When we got there, and I started to pull his crate out,

I picked him up and started to carry him,

and they wanted me to put him in this,

you know, pretty good size outdoor enclosure first,

so he could, you know, get used to the surroundings and...

and the other geese and ducks could see him,

but... but there would be a little protection,

you know, so to kind of introduce him.

And, when I put Honk in there,

I went in there with him and the geese started, you know,

honking and honking and honking and talking to him.

And sweet little Honk's little neck perked up,

and he started looking, and he started honking back.

And it was the most beautiful thing because here he was.

He was talking to his people, you know, his kind.

And it was, it was really incredible.

And so, it was hard to leave him.

I think all the stress

of feeling responsible for this goose

and wanting to protect him,

I think all this...

all this, you know, emotion came rushing out of me

and I just started crying.

So I just said goodbye to Honk,

um, even though I'm gonna get to come and visit him a lot.

And, um, I mean, I could come every day if I want.

But, um, you know, it's just really, really hard.

It's been a long two months, and I love him so much.

And it was a lot of pressure to try to figure out

what was best for him, but I know he was so lonely and...

and he needed to be around other geese like him.

I immediately saw him perk up

when he heard all of these geese honking, um,

and that's great because day after day,

I would sit with him at the creek, and he would call,

and he was calling out,

and I know he was calling for his mate that had died.

So, he's... he's good now,

but it's, you know, it's just really hard, um,

but, ah yeah, I'm glad that he's gonna be happy and safe.

KATHY: When Honk first came, he had...

he was grieving the loss of his mate,

which was a white goose.

And as it turns out, the day he got here,

we had the week before gotten a goose.

And she happened to be the replacement for the white goose.

And it was Honk and Brenda.

They're a mated pair, except when Cheryl's here, then that...

All bets are off.

But the story has come full circle,

and Honk has a girlfriend that is a beautiful white goose.

So, let me tell you what's going on here with Honk.

- [Honk honking] - There he is in the back,

he was eating his watermelon I brought him.

He's got another woman in his life.

Here she is, Brenda.

And you can tell he likes her, and she's white,

like the goose mate that he lost at the park.

It's been kind of an interesting,

uh, journey with him

because he and Cheryl already had a relationship

with a great following,

and that following has kind of moved on to Rogers

and given his followers kind of an...

an insight and a glimpse into, not only Honk's life,

but kind of what goes on at the rehab center

and how it all kind of works together.

And it has been fantastic that,

because they love him so much,

that we get donations from them

when we need help with certain items.

And the concern that people have for him

and what's going on in his life,

it's really been a good thing for everyone, I think.

I had started an Instagram page for Honk,

and he went from, I think it was like 700 followers

to all of a sudden it was 10,000.

And then, you know, couple of hours later,

it's 15,000, then it's 20,000.

So as of now, Honk has almost 80,000 followers on Instagram.

I was blown away with some of the fan art

that I've received.

Oh, my goodness.

People, incredible artists, have painted Honk's portrait.

They've done animated videos, drawings of Honk.

I've had little kids who have colored pictures of Honk

for their school or done a school project,

and one little girl did her project about Honk,

and they sent pictures. And so, that's amazing.

You know, that's incredible what this news has done.

Hi, my name is Jennifer and Honk's story reached

all the way over to Perth in Western Australia.

I remember the day that I saw Honk's story.

I remember we were in lockdown.

The world was a very scary place.

It was unprecedented.

We didn't know what was happening

from one minute to the other.

It was a very scary time,

and it was just so nice to be involved in a story

and see it unfold.

And I know that every day,

I would check the Instagram stories

and see if there was an update

and check that Honk was okay,

and it's just really raised my spirits,

and I think it gave hope to a lot of people.

And it was just... You felt so isolated,

and it was just nice to...

to kind of feel like you can connect

to watch the story unfold,

and I really appreciated being able to follow along

on the journey.

And I'm glad that his story is going to be told

because I think it will bring awareness

and I think more people need to know about Honk

because I absolutely love Honk.

My hope always is, after 40 years of doing this,

that people will find it in their hearts to be kind.

To be mindful of animals,

predicaments and the situations they're in

that they have no control over.

They've been put there by people,

and they suffer sometimes because of that.

But there's always people that are kind and willing to help.

They want to help.

They get very distressed when they see an animal in distress

and just don't know what to do.

Get 'em and bring 'em.

There's always somebody that will help,

and it's just a matter of finding that person.

And just to illustrate that point,

Honk having been here for one year

and seeing people all day and seeing geese

and ducks all day by the hundreds, and he...

he interacts with us.

But when Cheryl comes, it's a whole 'nother show.

He goes crazy, he loses his mind.

He starts honking, he runs to her for attention

and petting and trying to get in her lap.

And I mean, who would think that a goose would know anything?

One person from the next, or even care?

But all you have to do is watch it, and you'll see.

CHERYL: This goose needed rescuing, you know?

And I kinda felt like my purpose was to save him.

And what I didn't realize

was that he was really saving me during this whole time.

You know, it was, um, you know,

it was emotionally hard when things were shutting down.

We... we didn't know much about COVID.

And, um, you know, I couldn't go see my parents

or family members or my friends.

So, there was a real loneliness that was happening.

And Honk became the friend that I went and met at the park.

And we'd sit together, and I would just talk to him.

And it was really, it was really beautiful,

this friendship that happened, um, it was unexpected.

He was my therapist and my best... my best friend.

And... and he still is.

And I think that when Honk's popularity started growing,

I started realizing that he's doing the same thing for them

that he did for me

because they were looking forward

to seeing his videos every day or seeing his picture

or seeing something fun that Honk was doing.

This little goose was giving them some joy

and them, you know, a reason to feel positive, and...

and happy during a really tough time.

And you know what?

In a time where there was, you know,

there was a lot of divisiveness in the world and, you know,

that... that was just a fact.

And this goose had no agenda.

No agenda but love.

And, you know, it almost makes me cry

because, well it does obviously make me cry,

but because people needed that.

People needed to feel that kind of love,

that unconditional love and that just, that, um,

beautiful, beautiful energy from this goose,

and he really brought many people together.

[Honk honking]

[somber orchestral instrumental]

♪♪♪

I wanted to let you all know that our beloved

and much loved goose, Honk,

passed away late afternoon yesterday in his sleep.

I know this is a huge shock

to all who loved him all over the world.

He just went to take a nap

on his favorite pile of leaves in the sun,

and they found him peacefully passed away.

I was with Honk yesterday, and I'm so grateful for that.

I spent over two hours with him.

He cannot get close enough.

I mean, have you ever heard about personal space?

This is my personal space.

And, listen, you didn't ask me if you could kiss me.

[Honk honking]

Hello? You need to ask permission!

This little goose has paid it forward in so many ways

that I could have never imagined.

His spirit, and what he stands for,

is gonna continue to live on through this film,

and through the children's books that...

that were, you know, so amazing

that I was able to have these children's books published

through the generosity of... of grants

from a beautiful organization here in Dallas.

His story will live on and educate children,

and give joy for years and years and years and years to come.

And that's... that's Honk's legacy.

♪♪♪

It's so surreal.

Um, I'm heading out to Roger's Wildlife

for the first time since Honk passed

[Cheryl sighing]

Boy, I think I've only been out here one time

without him here,

and that was when I first came to check out the place

before I rescued him.

[Cheryl sighing]

I don't, I'm... So many emotions going on.

But it'll be good.

I mean, I really need to see them,

and I think they need to see me too, and just be together.

[soft piano instrumental]

This one... one person, I want to share this with you.

They said, "I will never look at a goose the same again.

"My eyes and heart have been opened."

And I think that was the goal, you know,

in making this film.

It was the goal with the children's books,

um, for people to see birds and waterfowl like this,

and as you've mentioned before about, um, you know,

them having emotions just like a dog and cat.

KATHY: I can tell you,

after dealing with hundreds of thousands of them

over 40 years, it's... it's real obvious.

- CHERYL: Yeah. - KATHY: It's really obvious.

You show that love to any animal or human, any person.

You show love, you get love.

That's what Honk was about.

I think it's important for adults as well as children

to remember that the pain that we feel

when we lose our beloved pet,

is the price we pay for letting them in our lives.

And it's... As hard as it is, the joy that they give us

and the memories that we have that will last a lifetime,

make it worthwhile.

Maybe that was Honk's last great lesson, you know,

to... to all of us, was that the love does outweigh the grief.

We had so many incredible comments,

um, this, I think, is really profound.

Says, "It's not the goose.

"It's the connection to him, the love that grew,

"the love that united so many everywhere.

"It's the confirmation that pure love does exist

"and can be packed

"in a small, two webbed footed bird that honked.

"It was more than the animal. It was love. It was Honk."

- That's it, that says it. - That's it, that's our Honk.

[Honk honking]

Hi. Hi.

[Honk honking]

♪ Take a step back, look around ♪

♪ I'm going 'round in circles ♪

♪ With my feet back on the ground ♪

♪ Feel the warm sun on my skin ♪

♪ The world's so big, so much to see ♪

♪ It's a good day to begin ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Hey, let's sail away ♪

♪ Let's pretend we're born again ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh ♪

♪ Hey, let's fly away ♪

♪ See the sunrise every day ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh ♪

♪♪♪

♪ It's a good day to begin ♪

[Honk honking]

You're precious. I love you! I love you!

- [Honk honking] - Yes, yes, yes!

[Honk honking]

♪ Think about where we have been ♪

♪ The joy we shared with friends who care ♪

♪ And all the things we've seen ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Hey, let's sail away ♪

♪ Let's pretend we're born again ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh ♪

♪ Hey, let's fly away ♪

♪ See the sunrise every day ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, ooh ♪

♪♪♪

♪ It's a good day to begin ♪

[Honk honking]