CLEAR LAKE SHORES — When a Chinese goose fell afoul of hit-and-run golf carts, Val Rayfield took it under her wing, tending its broken leg shouldering hundreds of dollars in vet bills.

GCDN

When a Chinese goose fell afoul of hit-and-run golf carts, Val Rayfield took it under her wing, tending its broken leg shouldering hundreds of dollars in vet bills.

The Clear Lake Shores retiree acted out of compassion, but also for the cause of true love.

“Several vets we saw wanted to put her to sleep, but she’s so sweet and adorable, I couldn’t do that,” said Rayfield, who has lived in the island community west of Kemah since 1988. “Besides, I knew her mate would die without her.”

Thus began an adventure that has touched the hearts of many of the island’s 1,443 residents. They are organizing a fundraiser barbecue and ice cream social Sunday.

Clear Lake Shores Civic Club President Allen Cruthirds likes to call it “Goozapalooza.”

“There’s been such a spontaneous response by the community,” he said. “It’s very close-knit, like a village.”

Residents rallying to help the downed goose have brought food, even chocolates, for Rayfield, slipped her money for vet bills and helped baby-sit. And the deserted gander has been welcomed to wander into homes, where he appears to enjoy watching TV. Watermelon snacks are often set out for him, and residents have converted a galvanized tub into a mini-swimming pool.

The two Chinese geese have lived at Clear Lake Shores, a bird sanctuary, about 18 years now. The goose and gander were named Mai and Mao by one of the families.

Rayfield began caring for the geese, taking cracked corn, lettuce and bread to them twice a day. She would drive down to their usual feeding spot, on the west side of the island, in her golf cart.

“It was a meals on wheels for geese,” she said.

But on May 4, teenagers in two golf carts ran down Mai. She suffered a compound fracture of her leg and a mashed foot.

Rayfield, with the help of friends, got the goose to Houston veterinarian Lenette Deschamps. Mai’s leg was splinted and a high-protein diet and rest prescribed.

So Rayfield keeps Mai in her garden, putting supplements in her food and catching high-protein June bugs for her. Friends Joe Huntington and Helli Brown help with the weekly follow-up visits to the vet.

“This island is like one big family,” said Rayfield, whose husband, Phillip, also helps baby-sit the goose. “Whenever anyone needs help, everyone is there to help.”

Mai and Mao have been kept apart because of Mai’s fragile condition, but “they do call to each other every morning and every night,” Rayfield said. “He will hoot, and she will hoot back.

“They both know the other one is still alive.”

In three or four months, the geese will be reunited. And there will be more than one happy ending, Rayfield says.

“When something bad happens, usually something good happens, and I think this has made people aware of these geese. Where before, people were afraid of them, they now love them.”

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At a glance

What: ‘Goozapalooza’ barbecue benefit and ice cream social

Where: Clear Lake Shores Clubhouse. Take FM 2094 to Clear Lake Road and over the bridge. The Clubhouse is on the right.

When: 11 a.m. Sunday

Details: “In deference to our honoree, no chickens will be harmed at this event,” organizers stated on the flier.