Goose With 3 Eggs Stops Work on $150M Building

(May 19) – It takes a lot to hold up work on a $150 million luxury building development in England. But a Canada goose knows just how to do it: Lay three eggs right in the middle of the site, and everything comes to a halt.

And that's not the bird's only achievement: A security guard has been assigned to give the goose 24-hour protection to make sure it isn't disturbed or frightened away.

The development is designed to hold a boutique hotel and apartments in the final touch to a building overlooking a canal in a highly upscale area of Birmingham, England's second-biggest city.

So why stop work Tuesday for a bird that is considered as much as a pest in England as it is in the U.S. and other countries?

"The goose has been here for about three weeks now, and she's settling in quite nicely, which is unfortunate for us," a spokesman for the contractors told The Daily Mail.

"We try to be environmentally friendly, and don't want to do anything to disturb the bird. We have been able to work on other parts of the site in the meantime, so we are not losing money, but it is a pain that it has delayed the project.

"It wouldn't be a good idea to move her before her goslings have hatched," he added.

Security guard Jake Fielding is giving the bird around-the-clock protection, and according to the spokesman, he "is doing a great job of keeping her safe and hopefully we won't be waiting too long for the eggs to hatch."

The site, known as the Cube, is the last part of a development called The Mailbox, which the city sees as a way of putting it on the global architectural map.

"Our city is a city of the future and as a futuristic building with phenomenal foresight in style and design, it is indicative of our plans in how we see Birmingham developing," a city councilor, Mike Whitby, said of the development in 2006, according to The Mail.

"The Cube will elevate us onto a global stage," he added.

But not, it seems, before three Canada geese are hatched.