Man charged after goose fatally beaten in Stanley Park

Disturbing content: Canada goose beaten to death A man has been charged following a disturbing case of animal cruelty in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

A man has been arrested and charged after a Canada goose was beaten to death in Vancouver's Stanley Park over the long weekend.

The bird was clubbed to death Monday near Lost Lagoon, witnesses said.

Video posted online and shared with CTV News showed the aftermath of the incident.

"Police! Someone call the police!" a person can be heard yelling.

"He killed the bird."

A shirtless, shoeless man can be seen holding a large stick. Witnesses said moments before the video was captured, the man had used the stick to beat the bird.

"I tried to take a video because I thought he would do the same thing but for people. He's out of control. Crazy," said Ebi Abedfard, who was at the park the day it happened.

Abedfard was walking his dog in the park around 3 p.m. He said he saw the beating, which occurred only a few steps from a daycare.

"Smashing… Looked like a baseball," he described.

The bird flailed then died quickly, and the bird's partner appeared to be mourning, Abedfard said.

His friend called police, who arrested a 34-year-old man from Maple Ridge.

"The man was quite confrontational with bystanders," Vancouver Police Sgt. Jason Robillard said.

"Fortunately, the officers were able to arrest him without incident."

Timothy Richard Louis Rowley is facing one count of willfully causing unnecessary pain or suffering to a goose, a charge under the Criminal Code. He was released on an undertaking to appear in court later this month.

The bird's body and the stick were both seized by officers as evidence.

Another witness, George Potvin, said he saw investigators put the stick in a plastic bag and take it away. He said he believes the man needs help.

"There's a lot of people in the park who are not well, especially in the summer," Potvin said.

The incident on Monday is not the first time a goose has been in trouble in Stanley Park. Earlier this summer, an apparent goose-napping was interrupted by a man with a camera, who shouted at the would-be thief that the bird was "not a toy. It's a living creature."

Abedfard is studying for Canadian citizenship, and said he knows how important the Canada goose is in this country.

"This is a national bird, this is a protected animal," he said.

He wants the man who killed the goose to get help, and stay away from the birds.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Jon Woodward