DeKALB | “The bus was late, I overslept, my printer broke:” all cliche excuses college students use for tardiness. But Travis Dillavou has a novel reason: goose attack.

“I was heading to my C++ class, and I was trying to get by [the goose by the Chick Evans Field House] to make it on time,” the freshman mechanical engineering major said. “I was running a little bit late, so I was walking fast, but I tried to get by it and it kept moving in my way…I tried to go behind it on the grass, and it wouldn’t let me go over there. It kept on just hissing at me…It made me late for my class, and I had to tell my teacher. My teacher was kind of like, ‘What the f**k?’”

Dillavou, along with freshman biology major Matt Dunn and freshman undecided major Marc Chaney have made the Canadian goose a public figure at NIU. The friends created the Facebook page “The Angry Goose Outside The Evans Field House” Thursday. As of Monday afternoon, the page had nearly 600 “likes.” Dillavou said the success of the page has exceeded his expectations.

The page was created for students to share humorous stories about the goose, Dillavou said.

“This thing probably attacks thousands of people a day,” he said. “Every kid who goes to the dorms and then to DuSable gets attacked by this goose.”

Facebook users access the page to post stories and pictures of encounters with the goose, songs they’ve written about it and speculations of its relationship with another goose sometimes seen on top of the fieldhouse deemed its “girlfriend.”

The root of the goose’s anger remains under speculation by the page’s creators.

Dunn said the goose might be angry because students are “invading its turf.”

Dillavou said he believes the goose has a personal vendetta against him.

“Some people it seems to favor; some people it seems to hate,” he said. “It hates me everyday. It hisses at me everyday. It tries to bite me everyday.”

“It also hates a certain car,” Chaney said.

“Yeah,” Dillavou agreed. “There’s a green Saturn that it always pecks at everyday.”

“You can see there’s a bunch of poop by it,” Dunn said, adding to the evidence.

Roy Domazlicky, urban waterfowl project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, said the goose’s behavior is normal.

From mid March to mid April is the peak nesting period for Canadian geese, Domazlicky said. He said the goose is probably the male in a pair and is protecting the nesting area of his mate. The nest is probably within 50 feet of the goose’s location on the East side of the fieldhouse.

“He’s basically protecting the area around the nest so it doesn’t get destroyed,” Domazlicky said. “[Goose] behavior is very variable. Some pairs are not aggressive at all; some are very aggressive. What he’s doing is very normal.”

No matter whether the goose’s behavior stems from instinct, grudges or merciless wrath, some students agree that he is a force to be reckoned with.

Lauren Nale, freshman rehabilitation services major, said she was chased through the parking lot by the goose even though she did nothing to provoke it.

“I was very scared; I screamed,” she said.

Nale said she was glad there weren’t many students around to witness the chase.

All three of the Facebook page creators agreed that they are afraid of the goose.

Dillavou has been bitten by a goose before, but said the bite doesn’t hurt.

“It’s just intimidating; it’s like when you see a bee flying or something like that,” Dillavou said. “It’s a scary moment, [though] you know you’re not going to die or anything.”

Domazlicky said the best way to deal with the goose is to avoid it, but trying to frighten the bird could also curb attacks.

“Sometimes you can actually get them to back down by waving your hands, screaming at them, getting yourself to look scary,” Domazlicky said. “Give it as wide of a berth as possible. That would probably be the best advice.”

Dillavou said he avoided the goose’s path for a while but has returned to see other students’ reactions to it.

“It never disappoints,” he said.

The creators of the page stressed that they didn’t want students to harm the goose.

“We’re not for antagonizing it,” Chaney said. “A lot of people get angry on the page saying that we’re going out of way to mess with it, [that] that’s why it’s so angry.”

“We’re definitely not trying to endanger it or hurt it in anyway,” Dunn added.

Canadian geese and their eggs and nests are protected from human intrusion and harm by Illinois law and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Tita Kaus, administrator in the office of the dean in the College of Law, said she is concerned that the goose’s status as a public figure on Facebook could endanger it.

“My only concern is that his notoriety now might cause some sort of damage, that he might get hurt,” Kaus said.

She said she is reminded of two geese that were intentionally run over at her gym in Sycamore and also of William Goose, who, according to legend, was accidentally killed by a student in 1981. A plaque commemorating William Goose as an honorary NIU student was erected near the East lagoon shortly after.

Kaus said she understands the entertainment value of the goose, but worries for its safety.

“It is funny to watch [geese] get so upset, but at the same time, it is his family and his territory,” she said. She said she hopes the goose and his offspring will be able to live peacefully near the lagoon.

Domazlicky said after the baby geese hatch, the goose family would probably leave the parking lot area to search out a body of water. The incubation period for eggs is four weeks, he said.

As of Monday, several users had posted on the Facebook page that they saw the angry goose with small goslings.