AnotAnother Runaway Goat in the Bronxher Runaway Goat in the Bronx

By A. G. Sulzberger September 3, 2009, 4:50 pm

Call it the summer of the getaway goat. (A baby Nubian goat now living at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen after it was found wandering the grounds of a nursing home near the Hutchinson River Parkway.)

A goat was found this week wandering near the Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx — the third retrieved from the area in about a month.

The goat, a brown male Nubian believed to be about a month old, was suffering from a severe case of pneumonia when it was discovered on Tuesday wandering the grounds of a nursing home near where the parkway intersects with Interstate 95.

The goat was corralled by the nursing home staff and is now recovering at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, N.Y., a vegan farm that takes in farm animals found nationwide. The farm’s national shelter director said the goat was weak, feverish and emaciated and could barely walk by the time it got to the shelter.

The goat was put on antibiotics and had started eating on Thursday. “We’re hoping he’ll pull through, and I think he will,” said Susie Coston, the shelter director.

In late July two other goats – dubbed Isadora and Duncan – were found in the same area. The two goats, which are different breeds, are now living at Farm Sanctuary’s main shelter, a 175-acre farm in Watkins Glen, though they have been adopted and will be transferred to a new farm in the coming days.

The origins of the goats remain a mystery, said Richard P. Gentles, a spokesman for Animal Care and Control, a contractor for New York City. He said they might be escaped pets, though keeping a pet goat is illegal in New York City. “I wish I knew the answer to that,” he said. “It would be very helpful to us all.”

“It might be just coincidence,” he added.

Ms. Coston said she believed that the goats may have escaped a nearby live market or farm, where they would have been slaughtered for meat. Goat meat is the most widely consumed meat in the world and is increasingly popular in the United States.

“It looks like the Hutchinson River Parkway has become something of an underground railroad for goats looking to escape New York City’s live markets with their lives,” she said.