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The Goose Who Wore Sneakers: How a Disabled Bird Became America’s Most Unlikely True Crime Victim
How a footless goose named Andy captured a nation’s heart — and why someone wanted him dead
A Star Is Hatched: The Unlikely Origin Story
The summer of 1987 brought an unexpected miracle to a quiet Nebraska farm — a gosling struggling to stand on raw, footless stumps. “Most animals with that disability wouldn’t have made it through the first winter,” a local veterinarian later observed. “His will to live was extraordinary.” For two agonizing years, this determined bird dragged himself across gravel roads, wings flapping desperately to keep pace with his flock.
Then came Gene Fleming — a millionaire inventor with a penchant for fixing the unfixable. “Because I’m a Shriner,” Fleming told People magazine, his eyes twinkling, “my natural instinct was to help him. When something’s broken, you don’t throw it away — you fix it.”
What followed was pure Midwestern magic.
