Los Angeles Zoo Welcomes Gander

Mario was greeted by zoo guests and feted by local politicians as he strutted around his pen, nipping at Odie and nibbling lettuce from the hand of Dominic Ehrler, a 65-year-old retiree he had befriended.

Mr. Ehrler and Mario were the subject of a Feb. 12 front-page article in The Wall Street Journal, which helped focus attention on their unique relationship: Starting last year, Mario—then a goose who lived at an urban lake in a neighborhood park—accompanied Mr. Ehrler on a daily walk around the lake for more than nine months.

The article recounted how their relationship—and Mario's home—were threatened by a city plan to rehabilitate the lake, prompting city officials to move Mario to the zoo. At the time Mario was thought to be a goose, whom locals named Maria. Zoo experts later determined she was in fact a he.

Read more from The Wall Street Journal...