IMPORTANT RUMINANT UPDATE: My, we’re feeling a bit sheepish. It turns out we gave you all some baaaaaaahd information. According to the Seattle Animal Shelter’s Don Baxter, the animal appears to actually (probably) be a sheep, not a goat as originally reported.
Baxter says that so far, no one has contacted the shelter to reclaim their sheep. “Crickets is all we’re hearing,” he says. “We haven’t gotten any calls about it. It’s really a mystery about how it got here.”
The sheep’s stay at the Seattle Animal Shelter may come to an end later this week. The shelter will hold the sheep for 72 hours (the clock officially starts Wednesday, as the shelter is closed Monday and Tuesday), in the hopes the animal’s rightful owner comes forward.
After that, Baxter says, the shelter will try to find the sheep a good home. “We’re going to be looking for a rescue group or someone that owns a farm that might be interested in adopting it out,” he says. “We’re looking for a happy ending for this goat.”
Officers come across some strange things while on patrol, and rarely are those things full-sized goats. But that’s just what one South Precinct patrol officer found as he rolled through the Rainier View neighborhood Sunday morning.
Around 8:30 am, the officer was driving past Beacon Avenue S. and S. Leo Street, when he spotted a full-sized male goat wandering down the street.
Keeping in mind that goats are sometimes known to have a gruff temperament, the officer called for backup and police were eventually able to put a leash on the goat.
Photo credit: Seattle Animal Shelter
Officers weren’t able find the goat’s owner, so they turned him over to the Seattle Animal Shelter.
Baxter says he thinks the goat may have been a “for-hire” goat—rented out to chomp down overgrown foliage—who wandered away from his work site.
One thing’s for sure, Baxter says: this is no pygmy pet goat. “It would not be legal [as a pet] in Seattle. It’s a big goat.”
Baxter estimates the goat weighs about 60 pounds.
If your weekend left you one billy short of a full herd, Baxter says the Seattle Animal Shelter has got your goat and you can call them at (206) 386-7387 or come down to the shelter during normal business hours—Wednesday through Sunday from noon to six pm to retrieve your ruminant.