We lost our beloved goat, Susie, to a bear attack.

[kaiden]

The Dept. of Wildlife guy, Murphy, gave us rubber bullets and we borrowed a shotgun and we're putting peanut butter on the electric fence. Hopefully, Mr. Black Bear will have an unpleasant experience when he returns tonight -- because, Murphy says, he will because they always do.

Oreo, our llama guardian, fought the bear valiantly.

Ugh. Nature.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. Wow, now thats not something you hear every day...

I am sorry for your loss.

[StrongBad]

2. That sucks and I'm sorry for your loss...

...but I'm also jealous of your lifestyle and wish I could have a bunch of animals like that in my backyard.

[Taverner]

3. That sucks. I have never met a goat I didn't like

I know that sounds weird, but Goats are amazingly social creatures, and would make a fine domesticated pet IMO

My neighbor had a goat named "Gerf" who used to love to cuddle.

[kentauros]

28. Goats are very intelligent and do make great pets

I've never owned one, but would consider it if I lived more rural. Although, there are Houstonians that keep goats in the city; it still requires a larger yard than most have available.

I was taking some pics around where I stayed in NZ recently, including this clearing on top of a nearby hill (their hills are very tall and steep.) One of their goats followed the whole way like a dog :D


Two guys and a goat:



(This is the full sized image just for a sense of scale: i193.photobucket.com/albums/z72/kentaaros/Twoguysandagoat_full.jpg and the hill for a greater sense of the scale: i193.photobucket.com/albums/z72/kentaaros/HillRd-withgoathillindistance.jpg)



I'm so sorry for your loss, kaiden. We all know that Nature is brutal and accept it, until it brutalizes one of our own and we have to deal with that trauma :hug:

[kaiden]

34. There's a goat guy up the road from us. He has two pygmy goats,

a beagle and he lives in a log cabin. The goats sleep in a raked-roof dog house in front of his cabin. For years, until I got my own wonderful goats, I "stalked" this lovely man unbeknownst to him. As Larry and I drove to the bus or back home in the evening, I would search for this man and his goats. Once I shrieked, "Goats!" and Larry nearly drove off the road. I promised to be quieter in my enthusiasm. Sometimes his goats sleep on top of his patio table beneath the umbrella. When he would put in a fence post, the goats would be right there, supervising over his shoulder. Just last week, he was walking back from the pasture with the goats (one black, one tan) just to his side and a little in front of him with the beagle running back and forth joyfully as dogs are want to do.

We have a futon frame in the compound for the goats. They like to lie on it, cheek to cheek (haha) and chew their cud. We used to joke that all that scene needed was a few empty PBR cans strewn around . . .

[kentauros]

38. You could still set up that scene with the PBR cans

:D Or maybe use Foster's "oilcans" instead :P

Here's a couple of stories about a couple from N.O. and their pygmy having to live in and around Houston after Katrina:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-09-22/news/between-is-and-was
http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-11-03/news/au-revoir-chauncey

[kaiden]

39. Chauncey! I love these stories on NOLA and the goat!

[kentauros]

40. I didn't know there were more, but the owner is a good writer

:D

Oh, and here's your Susie for you and the rest :)





What a sweet face :D

[kaiden]

41. Thank you, kentauros, for posting this photo of Susie.

This is Susie with her best Sister Bertrille imitation. She was our "Flying Nan."



Edit: Must spell nice man's name right!

[kentauros]

42. Don't worry about misspelling my "name".

Most people don't get it right. I suppose if I had just called myself "Centaur" they might have then unterstood instead of the Greek version ;)

I love the "Flying Nan" nick, too

[kaiden]

45. If you come to Colorado this summer, please get in touch!

And again, thanks for helping me share Susie's photo.

[kentauros]

46. I just got back from a week in NZ

so I don't think I'll be traveling until the end of the year, and that's back to NZ! My girlfriend there wants me to visit with her before we (and her two furbabies) move back here. I've never done this much traveling in my life, but I'd still love to show her Colorado, too :D

[rug]

4. Goats? Llamas? Bears? Do you live in Narnia?

[Creena]

5. I'm so sorry.

What kind of goat? I just adore goats. I'd love to get a piece of land for a goat or two, chickens, and other critters. I can't imagine loosing a beloved animal in that way. How is your llama holding up?

Good luck tonight.

[Kali]

6. I'd be thinking of REAL bullets, myself.

Good sized ones.

[kaiden]

7. Oh, you guys. It's all so complicated.

Susie was a nubian/angora mix -- a rather large goat, just 11 months old. We have her brother, Peter, and three llamas: Oreo, Isabella and baby Joey (who's 3 months).

Susie was sable with a roman nose and long ears, as all nubian goats have, but she had long, fluffy fur like all angoras. We could have shorn her and spun mohair. She was a funny girl. She liked to roll down the hill again and again, like human children do. Goats don't eat everything. I tried to feed Susie and her brother a pepsi float yesterday and they would have none of it. Perhaps it was the spoon.

Murphy, of DOW, says that there are criteria for killing wildlife. About 20 miles from us, a mountain lion crawled onto a deck, entered the bedroom sliding glass door and made off with a yellow lab. That mountain lion was considered extremely dangerous and was euthanized. If a mountain lion or bear eats livestock, that lion or bear is euthanized. If a bear is being a bear and happens upon a pet goat in the quest for grain, one can only shoot him with rubber bullets and shock him with electric peanut butter to make his experience so unpleasant that he won't come back. There are priorities. And I agree. I really can't fault the bear for being opportunistic.

We found Oreo about a 1/8 mile away. It took us 2 hours to get him back home, first capturing and then gently leading him around the bend. Fortunately, we have a friend who is a "camelid whisperer," so Oreo willingly let Jim Ball bring him home.

Murphy says that bears are five times as smart as a german shepherd, which are considered the smartest dogs. Bears in Colorado are beginning to break into vehicles with alacrity in search of a bag of bird seed a person has left behind. One even broke into a car that had recently been detailed with "vanilla" scent.

Thank you for all your good thoughts. I have a photo of my girl but I cannot figure out how to post it to photobucket. I am a luddite -- and a luddite without my goatie.

[redqueen]

11. I'm so sorry...

thanks for sharing that description of her, and her personality. She must have been a real pleasure to know.

:pals:

[sarge43]

15. It's tough to lose a friend. Condolences.

:hug:

The peanut butter on tin foil on the electric fence does work. We had the pleasure of watching a bear get knocked on his ass after licking the foil on the fence around our bee yard. He yelped, whined, banged into the tree and stumbled off into the woods. Never came back.

[orleans]

32. start a photobucket account

i forget how, but i did it so there must be instructions

when you get your account and sign in there is a place on that page that says "upload images and video" and under that is a blue button that says "choose files." to the right of "choose files" it asks where the picture is coming from--if it's on your computer make sure that is checked. then click on the blue button of "choose files"

that will open a window for where you keep pics on the computer (hopefully). if not you might have to search around for it. then click on your folder/picture and click "open." that should do the trick.

if not, someone else here can probably explain it better than i'm doing.

i'm really sorry for your loss. how terrible.

[mix]

8. losing a goat to the coyotes

that was one of the worst experiences of childhood, i love them...courage

[myrna minx]

9. I am so sorry.

:hug:

[Blue Diadem]

10. I'm sorry kaiden

RIP Susie. :(

Good for Oreo for putting up the fight. Was he/she injured? Poor animals, must have been terrified.

[kaiden]

12. Oreo and Susie had an inter-species romance.

That's why she wasn't in the barn with the others. She preferred to stay with Oreo. Her total adoration of the guy and my unreasonable belief that Oreo could protect anybody (he likes to gently body-slam people who tried to get between him and his goats, led to her demise. I feel so godawful about this.

[Blue Diadem]

17. Aww, that sweet. I bet it was cute seeing them together.

Try to take comfort in knowing she was happy being with her Oreo. There's no way you could have known when a bear would show up.

:hug:

[Shell Beau]

13. Hard to win against a bear! Poor baby! I am sorry!

[TK421]

14. Where the hell do you live? Jesus, that must have been awful!

RIP poor llama! :(

[kaiden]

18. We live in Conifer, Colorado, 30 miles southwest of Denver.

At 8,500 feet in the Foothills. Three acres. Living our dream. 8 cats, 4 dogs, 8 fish, 3 llamas and well, now, one goat.

[TK421]

20. Must be beautiful country where you're at....consider yourself lucky

I'm now thinking about those of us who live in densely populated areas of the country who would just love to get away to that kind of lifestyle. Consider yourself fortunate in those regards...

[kaiden]

21. Please come visit us at Cat Crap Hill.

We're always up for a visit. The beer is good here in Colorado, too (and I don't mean Coors).

[TK421]

22. I'm sorry, maybe you mis-typed that name....I got here that it's Cat Crap

and please tell me there is some kind of joke mixed in there....somewhere

[kaiden]

23. Nope. We have 8 cats. We tiled the entire house!

We live on Riley Peak, but our property is Cat Crap Hill. Hahahaha.

[TK421]

27. Hmmph....well....I'm sure you're happy on Cat Crap Hill.....sorry!!!!

Do understand, the name itself makes me laugh....but I can't help that...

Then there is the issue of your pride....Cat Crap Hill....I just can't help myself sir...I am STILL laughing at the name! I thought PA had some fucked-up names for its towns! like Intercourse, Blue Ball, but Cat Crap certainly ranks up there! At any rate, I'm sure it is beautiful country

[Shell Beau]

26. One day, that will be me! I want some land so I can have

lots of animals! I really am sorry about your goat! Nature can also be a pain in the ass!

[latebloomer]

16. That is so sad.

Your animals sound adorable.

Light to you and yours.

[mitchum]

19. My thoughts are with you and everyone who knew and loved Susie

[bigwillq]

24. I am very sorry for your loss.

:hug:

[LeftyFingerPop]

25. I am very sorry for your loss, kaiden

:(

[femmocrat]

29. So sorry, kaiden.... that is so sad.

The thought of your llama fighting a bear just breaks my heart.

:cry:

[kaiden]

30. Llamas are inscrutable, not "lap" pets, but awesome anyway.

I read one time in the Smithsonian years ago that in North Carolina, some llamas are used as golf caddies. My husband and I are going to try that this year -- they have soft feet and poop in the same piles . . . that's why some golf courses allow them on the greens. I'll let everyone know how that works out!

[applegrove]

31. I hate bears. I'm glad I don't live anywhere near them. Did I say how I hate bears?

[cwydro]

33. What a great place you must live in!

Very sorry to hear about your goat though.

We had a goat when I was younger. We called him Tog.

[dgibby]

35. So sorry for your loss.

I love goats and would love to have a couple of pygmies, but don't know the first thing about caring for/raising a goat. I'd like a couple of mini sheep and donkeys, also. What can I say, I'm a fool for a furry face. Guess I'd have to be, what with 3 dogs, 7 cats, and 4 feral cats that I feed.

[kaiden]

36. My gosh, you sound like us!

[Kajsa]

37. I'm so sorry, Kalden.

I hope you are successful in scaring the bear
away.

I'm so sorry to hear about Susie.

:(

[InvisibleTouch]

43. That's very sad. :(

I always wanted a milk goat, just haven't lived in a place where I could keep one. I've got a considerable indoor menagerie plus multiple dogs, but haven't made it to a spot where I can keep goats, chickens, horses, etc. I know I'd be very sad if I lost an animal family member to a wild predator, but at the same time I'm not sure I could blame the predator. I'm on his territory, after all. I would, of course, do everything possible to prevent future incidents. Hope you can scare this one off so he doesn't come around again, and the rest of your family stays safe.

[Bryn]

44. I am sorry for your loss

Susie looks so dear in picture. :( I like goats and many animals.