Animals

We live out in the country. Well, it used to be a whole lot more "country" than it is now. When we bought our four acres, there was hardly anyone else living on our road. Now, neighbors on both sides. Closer than we would like, but that is a subject for another post. Anyway, we do live outside of the city limits (for now anyway, again another post).

Over the years we have had our fair share of animal sightings. Among the list are: deer, a baby fawn nestled right next to the front passenger wheel of my car, snakes, frogs, lizards, squirrels, cotton tail rabbits, opossums, raccoons, armadillos, foxes, bobcats, coyotes and wild hogs. All of these animals have been spotted from our yard one time or another. In addition, we have had visits from cows, horses, donkeys, neighbors' dogs (another post), stray cats, a huge Charolais bull (funny story) and numerous dogs passing by.

Living out where we do, there is also the problem of people dumping unwanted pets. I'm sure that the stray cats were dumped. After a month or two of them trying to beat our cat up and take her food, they disappeared. I'm sure they became coyote or bobcat food. We've had a couple of dogs show up, but when they didn't get a warm reception, they moved on. Obviously, the people who dump their unwanted pets are heartless idiots. However, we folks that choose to live out in the outlying areas cannot be expected, just because we may have the room, to harbor everyone's castoff pets.

This brings me to my story. It's not terribly surprising to discover a dog or a cat that has been dumped. But, what about a goat? Two goats to be exact. Two male goats. They are dirty and destructive and smelly and have very bad behavior. They showed up around our place almost a month ago and they don't seem to belong to anyone around us. I spotted them behind our backyard fence and at first, I thought they were funny. I called my beloved outside and he thought they were funny too. But not for long. Like I said, bad behavior. My beloved chased them off and they left, very much against their will. However, they have shown up periodically over the last month. Don't know where they came from, don't know where they go. It is looking more and more like they were dumped.

But, really? Who dumps a goat?

More on abandoned animals on a future post.