R.I. man faces charges after goose, goslings die
Police say birds chased, stomped
Before he left for work Saturday, John A. Sanders asked his mom what would make her Mother's Day. She said she wanted to visit the zoo.
Instead, in a bizarre twist, Sanders, 33, spent the early part of yesterday behind bars in Attleboro on charges that he had fatally injured a Canada goose and stomped to death five goslings.
According to the police report, Sanders and the geese crossed paths Saturday afternoon on sprawling property leased by
Sanders, a project manager, was walking on the wooded campus, where geese gather each spring to paddle in a pond and graze on the grass, when he came upon geese and the goslings.
Police said an adult goose hissed at Sanders, who then slipped and fell in the mud. Then, the police report said, ''angered by this fall, he began his rampage, chasing the goslings and kicking them."
Sanders, who was released yesterday after he made $600 bail, said he felt threatened when a gaggle of geese became aggressive and moved toward him, hissing and beating their wings.
''My life demonstrates that I'm not a callous, hard, uncaring sort of person," Sanders said yesterday in a telephone interview. ''I'm heartbroken over what happened. I felt threatened, and then when I slipped, I felt desperate because they were all around me."
He said he would reserve his statement about what happened next for court.
Sanders's mother said the episode is out of character for her son, an industrial engineer who volunteers at a soup kitchen, goes to church every Sunday, and helps care for the family's aging golden retriever.
''He's a wonderful son," said Virginia Sanders, a substitute teacher, reached by phone at the family home in North Kingstown, R.I. ''He has a kind and caring and compassionate nature."
Sanders is scheduled to be arraigned today in Attleboro District Court on six counts of felony animal cruelty and one misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, police said.
A witness allegedly saw Sanders grab the goose and kick it, police said. Then, they said, Sanders ran down a grassy stretch, shouting, and stopped to jump up and down.
The witness called police, who said they found two goslings flattened on the parking lot and three more dead on the grass.
The goose was taken to an animal hospital in West Bridgewater, but its injuries were too severe and it was euthanized yesterday, said Karen Harvey, an Attleboro animal control officer.
Officials said they think the dead goose was the goslings' mother.
Officer Steven Beaudet of Attleboro police, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan, said police were shaken by the gruesome scene.
''It was very disturbing," Beaudet said. ''It's hard to put into words. The violence that he used on these defenseless animals was incredible."
Sanders's mother said the behavior described in the police report was unlike her caring son, who holds a master's degree in business from Columbia University, worked in Mexico for several years, and is fluent in Spanish.
In 1994, after he earned his bachelor's degree in Michigan, his mother said, he volunteered for six months on a ship that brought medical care to West Africans.
He also helped found a nonprofit organization in Ghana that provides education for elementary school children and jobs for their families, she said.
Sanders was a contract employee, through Olsten Staffing Services, said Texas Instruments spokeswoman Linda Megathlin.
Virginia Sanders said her Christian family is rallying around her son. He is the second of five children. His father, William, is a research engineer.
Instead of visiting the zoo, she spent her Mother's Day exploring ways to free her son from jail.
''I can't take away the judgment he's facing," she said, ''but I certainly can show him some mercy and love."
