You've goat to be kidding about this, for goat's sake!

Posted 4/5/18

A Chestnut Hill good Samaritan butted in, you might say, to rescue this adorable creature who was wandering around near the Water Tower! by Len Lear I have been checking out the classified ads in the …

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You've goat to be kidding about this, for goat's sake!

Posted

A Chestnut Hill good Samaritan butted in, you might say, to rescue this adorable creature who was wandering around near the Water Tower!

by Len Lear

I have been checking out the classified ads in the Local for about 40 years, and even though classified ads were supposed to have been made obsolete by the internet, we still find them very useful. In just the last year or so, we have used the classifieds in the Local to find a housepainter who painted two rooms, a window company that installed a new sliding door that opens up to the back yard, an electrician who worked on both outdoor and indoor lighting, a stone mason who repaired a damaged stone wall and filled in large cracks in cement steps, a carpet company that installed new carpets in two rooms, a handyman who came out two days before Christmas when the refrigerator compressor died and a tree expert who cut up and removed a tree that had crashed in the yard.

But I am positive that in those 40-some years of checking out the classifieds, I never before saw one like an ad in the March 15 issue of the paper. Under “Lost and Found,” where one might expect to find items about a lost wallet, scarf, watch or pair of eyeglasses (sound familiar?), there it was: “FOUND GOAT; found near Water Tower; Call 215-XXX-XXXX.” (The actual phone number was in the ad, of course.)

After doing a double-take, I thought, “Is this some kind of joke? Who loses goats in Chestnut Hill? This is not a rural part of Chester County.”

So, intrigued and curious, I called the phone number and spoke to Marie (she does not want her last name used), who lives near the Water Tower. “It was March 7,” she said. “I looked across the street and saw what I thought at first was a big dog with floppy ears chewing on a bush. He even had a dog collar. But when I got closer, I realized it was a goat!”

There is a well-known family in Wyndmoor who are known to have llamas and other exotic animals, (whose photos have been in the Local), but it was discovered that the goat was not theirs. Marie contacted several neighbors to find out if anyone knew whom the goat belonged to. No one knew, but one kind neighbor agreed to put him in her backyard. “Her granddaughter named him Patrick and loved taking care of him. He was stubborn and did not want to walk, but it was obvious that he was used to people.”

Marie called police, Montgomery County SPCA and Hickory Animal Hospital, but none was able to locate the goat's family. Marie spread the word on social media, however, and two veterinarians in Roxborough offered to take in the goat, but a “lovely family” with a barn also offered to provide a foster home for Patrick until the proper owners could be found. They are now caring for him.

“It's very odd that no one has come forward yet to claim the goat,” said Marie, “but the people (with a barn) are really unique people. They could not be nicer, and Patrick could not be luckier. I have a feeling that if the actual owner does not come forward, they may choose to keep him.”

When asked if the family with the barn is situated within the city limits, Marie declined to answer. “They are such great people, the last thing I would want to do is cause a problem for them,” she said.

Although the original owner may not even want Patrick back at this point, anyone who knows them is encouraged to contact this reporter at 215-248-8807 or lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.