It is not often that a bet over whiskey engenders a goose sanctuary. In 1939 mink rancher Alfred Hole bet a crock o f whiskey that he could keep four abandoned Canada goose goslings alive for six weeks. He did, raising them to adulthood and releasing them on this pond. The original four began migrating with wild geese, but they always returned home. After a while, hundreds of migrating Canada geese regularly stopped over at the pond, which now forms the heart of the Alfred Hole Goose Sanctuary and Visitor Centre.

Located beside Highway 44 on the Whiteshell Provincial Park’s western edge, the sanctuary is home to about 100 geese in the summer, among them five or six nesting pairs at the main pond.

Black ducks, hybrid mallard, and wood ducks also raise families here. The visitor centre includes an observation room that has floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pond. A spotting scope allows you to watch the geese closely, though often they waddle about within a few feet of the windows.