Goats found roaming Abbotsford reunited with owner: APD

When there was something strange in the neighbourhood, Abbotsford police knew exactly who to call.

Officers with “familiarity corralling goats” were assigned to the case, after callers Saturday morning reported four wayward farm animals “lost, roaming around on the roadways.”

Const. Art Stele tells CityNews the first thought that came to mind was getting the goats safely out of the area, given the risk they posed to motorists.

But the other was “where did the goats come from?”

“A pretty peculiar file,” he told CityNews of the call.

Stele says AbbyPD sent out its best officers for the case, with the goats eventually found in the area of Mt Lehman and South Fraser Way.

“They were just casually eating some grass and shrubbery, as goats do. Luckily, the members who were responding to the call just so happened to have some familiarity with corralling goats,” he explained.

“Utilizing those special skills of theirs, they were able to negotiate the goats and find temporary accommodations with Animal Control, who we obviously contacted at the onset of this file.”

Once the goats were in a safe place, Stele says the focus turned to finding the animals’ rightful owner, who was found after officers posted the animals on social media.

It turns out the farm animals had found a breach in the chain-link fence that was holding them in.

“They are stubborn animals at times and it doesn’t take long for them to find weaknesses in any kind of fence, because they’re always trying to get out, it seems,” Stele explained. “In this instance, they did find an avenue of escape and utilized that fully.”

Their owner has since reinforced the fence to avoid another jailbreak,” Stele says.

“I can say that I personally verified that they are behind their own chain link and happily eating their grass and hay in their home,” he added.

According to police, the goats “were surprised” when they came face to face with the officers. But once all was said and done, they were “cooperative clients.”

“[They] were very pleasant to deal with,” Stele said.