This heartwarming story shows animals' resiliency and how a little compassion can change a life (or two)!

The Garvin Foundation

The Garvin Foundation is an organization that is dedicated to helping ducks and geese. They help to educate people on what is safe to feed ducks and geese as well as educate people on how to help protect our feathered friends. They also help rehabilitate injured ducks and geese.

Fishing line wrapped around a leg can be deadly to an animal. Broken wings, beaks and more can be painful. The Garvin Foundation is committed to helping teach, prevent, and heal our feathered friends.

This year The Garvin Foundation had one story that stole many hearts on social media when they shared the story of Ellie and Carson.

Carson and Ellie Courtesy of The Garvin Foundation

The Heartwarming Tale of Ellie and Carson

This story started on April 23rd when the Garvin Foundation shared the photo of a tiny gosling named Ellie. Ellie had been orphaned and urgently needed a family before she became reliant on humans.

URGENT****
We need to find a goose family with babies this size in hopes they will adopt her. Geese need families. They stay with them for 2 years. She needs a family asap. The longer she’s with humans the harder it will be to get a family to take her. Please let us know if anyone sees babies this size. By the way we named this one Ellie.

After two geese families refused to accept Ellie,The Garvin Foundation decided to try Ellie's luck with Carson. Carson is a goose in The Garvin Foundation's care because of an injured back. The clock was ticking and Ellie needed a goose family ASAP.

So we were worried about Ellie the Gosling since she didn’t have any luck with the first two foster families we found. And when we tried getting her to eat some grass we noticed she kept following humans. That’s dangerous for goslings. That means she’s in danger of imprinting on humans and wouldn’t be able to be released. So we tried something crazy. We spent hours introducing Carson (the one recovering from a back injury) to Ellie (the orphan). And Carson accepted the baby. Now we really need prayers for Carson! He has a daughter to raise. So he needs his legs to be healed. Please pray for Carson and Ellie!!!! By the way. Look closely at the photo. Look at Carson’s tape under his wings. Ellie is tucked in snug and warm.

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On April 25th The Garvin Foundation shared that Carson was showing slow improvement on his back, and was continuing to accept Ellie as his own. On May 3rd they shared that Carson seemed to have some new fight in him and he was making great improvement on his healing. They credit his success to Ellie giving him something to fight for.

On May 13th, Carson and Ellie Embark on a New Life Together

After a few more updates, which you can follow on The Garvin Foundation's page, they posted an exciting update on May 13th, that Carson and Ellie were released together. The unlikely duo shows that compassion and a little love can change everything.

Carson and Ellie were released today. They have a big lake to swim in and people who love them to look out for them. Carson was excited to be in the water. Ellie was excited to make some new friends.

You can see the video of these two in their new home below. The Garvin Foundation does so much to help these animals out, and if you'd like to help them continue their mission to help the other Carson and Ellie's of the Evansville-are, you can learn more about them, and donate to their mission, here.

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Gallery Credit: Nicole Caldwell