On a sunny September afternoon on a turkey farm near Evansburg, Alta., a retired farmer speeds across his yard on an ATV with his best friend racing alongside.

Peter Furgala regularly checks in on his friend encouraging her to keep up and take flight.

His little pal is a Canada goose who has lived with Furgala on his turkey farm since she was just a few days old.

It doesn’t take long before the bird is airborne and flying beside him as they playfully race back and forth down the field.

Furgala adopted the young Canada goose, he named Youna, when she was just a little gosling last spring. He said a neighbour, who found her abandoned on a gravel road, gave the tiny bird to him.

“So they brought (Youna) over and I brought it up from just a little thing,” Furgala told CTV Edmonton on Thursday. “She would crawl up and sit and play with my hair and watch TV for hours on end.”

Furgala explained that Youna has become his “buddy” and that owning a pet goose isn’t any different than taking care of a dog or cat.

“It's like any other animal,” he said. “You spend time with them.”

As the cold weather approaches, Furgala is concerned that his companion might migrate south for the winter, like most Canada geese.

“I don’t want to lose her,” Furgala said, as he fought back tears. “She’s special to me.”

Furgala believes that Youna might learn about migration when other Canada geese visit his farm to feed on the grain being harvested. He said there’s nothing he can to do prevent her from following the other birds south if that’s what she wants to do.

“If she goes, she goes,” he said. “She’s an amazing young goose.”

Whatever Youna decides, Furgala said she will always have a home on his farm. He has even installed some heating elements in the coop to keep it nice and toasty in case his companion chooses him over the warmer climate.

With a report from CTV Edmonton’s David Ewasuk