Goose who wears a pair of sandals

Gator the rescue goose’s adoptive parents, Bob and Lauree Strouse, were so concerned his feet would suffer on their walks, they got him a pair of sandals

The couple designed the footwear to combat the hot and harsh concrete in the town of St Augustine, Florida.

The trio have become a regular sight since finding Gator wandering along the edge of Lake Roy in Winter Haven, Florida.

They feared its resident alligators would gobble him up, so took him under their wing. ‘We rescued him,’ said Mrs Strouse. They called him Gator because it’s a shortening of the rather pessimistic ‘Gator bait’. That was four years ago.

They now regularly take him out for a walk but make sure he is on a lead in crowded areas to make sure he does not get into mischief.

But at heart Gator is a home body. ‘He grazes in the yard,’ said Mr Strouse. ‘He eats grass and ants and bugs,’ his wife added.