He’s no Billy the Kid, but this four-legged outlaw kept the Licking County Sheriff’s Office and the Licking County Humane Society on their toes all weekend long.
The unnamed goat — on the loose across Licking County since Friday, Oct. 4 — was finally captured Monday morning after trotting down several major roads, across people’s porches and through farm fields.
“I was going west on 40, and on the right side of the road, sitting right there in the grass was a goat!” said Etna resident Terry Johnson, 72. “I had to take a second look […] I looked again and said ‘Holy cow, that’s a goat!’”
Reports of the goat flooded social media, where Licking County residents such as Tiffany Smith shared footage from the Ring camera near her front door.
Around 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 7, Licking County Sheriff’s deputies Thomas Finlay and Karen Dunlap responded to reported sightings of the goat on U.S. Rt. 40 and Toll Gate Road, near Etna, to hunt down the unusual suspect.
The goat, with the ear tag of MT0223/1088, had been spotted by spectators across porches in doorbell videos, running the wrong way down Interstate 70, and sitting in the grass on Rt. 40.
After their dispatch, Finlay and Dunlap began to chase the goat. After an “extended period of time,” they were able to get the goat into a culvert where it had bedded down. Route 40 was closed for an hour so the deputies could chase it down the road.
“Once I obtained a soft restraint snare from a Humane Agent on scene, I attempted to get the snare over the goat’s head but was unsuccessful,” Dunlap wrote in the case report obtained by The Reporting Project. After narrowly escaping the snare attempt, the goat took off from the culvert, making haste eastbound into a gravel drive that led into a field.
With snare in hand, Dunlap “gave chase” and was finally able to secure the goat. A veterinarian, who was already on the scene, then sedated the goat.
It was then placed in the back of a Licking County Humane Society agent’s truck, and taken to a farm. One of the humane agents — a LCHS staff member tasked with investigating animal abuse and neglect throughout the county — will handle the identification of the goat’s owner as well as any possible criminal charges.
The goat has since been relocated to a Licking County Humane Society advisory board member’s farm, where it will live until someone claims it.
“If the goat belongs to you, please contact the humane society,” the sheriff’s office posted on social media.
Owen Baker writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.