Cemetery Staff Help Lonely Goose Find Love
After her partner died, Blossom wasn't quite herself.
She spent a lot of time walking around Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa, looking very lonely.
It might be important to note that Blossom is a goose.
But just like humans, geese often choose partners for life, and Bud the goose was Blossom's life partner. The two lived happily on the pond in the cemetery — until Bud was killed by a wild animal in August 2022, according to a Facebook post from the cemetery.
Blossom started spending more time near the cemetery office, where the staff sometimes fed her and tried to help her feel less lonely.
In February 2023, the time of year when geese usually begin to mate, Blossom started looking for a partner.
"This is, as far as I know, the first spring that Blossom hasn't had a partner," Dorie Tammen, the cemetery's manager, told The Dodo.
The staff decided to do something about it, and posted a personal advertisement on the Riverside Cemetery Facebook page.
"Come share life with me at Riverside Cemetery, where you'll enjoy swimming in the lovely lake, good food, numerous friends, and peeking in the door of the office building at the strange but kind humans there," the ad read.
Within a few days, Riverside announced that a partner had been found — a goose named Frankie, who belonged to an older couple who were selling their home. And just like Blossom, Frankie needed a partner.
On February 14 — Valentine's Day — Frankie arrived at the cemetery for the big meeting. And according to Riverside's Facebook posts, the two geese haven't left each other's sides since.
