Branta is a well-liked biology teacher, swim team coach and actor/director of the town’s community theater for the past five years (the reason he got the award). True, he does rescue injured raptors as a hobby, but being a biologist he should know that birds of prey are impossible to domesticate.
“I realize it’s a tall order,” he tells the reporter, “but if I put my mind to it, I’ll figure out the way. Eagles and hawks don’t pay attention to instructions and only acknowledge you when they want to be fed. Owls are different. They’re intelligent enough to be trained, although they tend to meditate a lot and the majority of them are quite superstitious. Hence the challenge.”
The mayor’s ashen face shows he just had an out-of-body experience. Everybody in attendance or watching on TV is wondering, is it possible to bounce back from this politically? No, probably not. We Canada geese are noted for our exceptionally long memory.