Story behind the story | Wild goose chase

I knew my choice of wearing a skirt on Tuesday was a bad idea the moment I heard the voice of our assignment editor, Jamie Lipsit, on the phone. "There's a Canada goose caught in a wire in a field," he said. "Should be right beside the pond."

It was pouring rain.

A quick wardrobe change and I was off with the two essential tools any video journalist needs: a camera, and rubber boots.

People often wonder how we come up with the stories you see on the news every night.

Sometimes they're sparked by curiosity from reporters, sometimes it's events that are breaking, and sometimes we find ourselves chasing a Canada goose because of a call from a worried viewer.

You can probably guess which option applied to our story about the injured goose, its feet tangled in a horrible mess of fishing line.

Tina Cutler called the newsroom, frantic about the fate of this gooseand she was right, the longer people waited to help, the worse the situation got.

Cutler and I spent hours following the injured guy around the ball field. Keeping a close eye as we waited for volunteers to arrive and start the rescue mission. She didn't want to let the goose out of her sight.

When the group convened Tuesday afternoon, I found myself being directed to stand right on the edge of the biggest, muddiest puddle out of fears the goose would head my way.

Within seconds the field was chaos.

Runners going in every direction. The angry mother goose, flapping her wings, hissing in attack at each of the humans.

On the tape, you can hear my laughter. More shock at what was unfolding before my eyes. With a soundtrack, this could have been a scene from a movie.

It took a final sprint that was worthy of a Super Bowl touchdown to snag the runaway bird.

I was there, sprinting behind, through those deep, muddy puddles. Camera rolling the whole time.

This was one of those rare days when a story has a fantastic ending that we can laugh at: the community coming together and saving an animal's life.

I was quite happy to tag along for the ride.