LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – The Lake County 4-H “Goat Busters” received a special call last month to help find an elusive goat that escaped from its owner’s property.
While it might have been their first time wrangling an escaped goat, the 4-H Goat Busters in Lake County were certainly the right people for the job.
A pregnant goat named Rowling escaped her owner’s property on Nov. 9. The owner, Alyssia Franklin, spent the entire day looking for her and eventually called in reinforcements the next day.
“I knew what to do,” Franklin said.
A few members of the Goat Busters came out to look for Rowling during the day on Nov. 10. But after their meeting that night, the group showed up in full force.
Franklin’s property is mostly surrounded by woods, and that’s where Rowling was hiding.
“At night, they had headlamps, they had feed, they had bait, they had rope, they were ready,” Franklins said. ”And as you can see, that state road is very busy, very hectic and even worse at night,” Franklin said.
But it wasn’t over yet. Rowling was plotting another escape from her enclosure.
“It seemed like she had some calculation that she put through her head, and she charged, and she got decent speed and just headbutted her way through the hardware net,” said 4-H Goat Busters member, Angel Vargas said.
However, Rowling’s plans were cut short when 4H volunteer Tracie El Sabbah stopped the goat in her tracks.
“I grabbed her by the collar and like she was trying to go, and I was on the ground,” El Sabbah said. “She brought me completely to the ground. I don’t remember who it was. Maybe I leapt. Maybe she dragged me, I don’t know.”
The 4-H members then came together to build Rowling a new, stronger pen just a few months before she’s set to give birth.
“Always have a collar on your goat. We didn’t have a collar on her. And I think that was our number one mistake,” Franklin said. “So, it’s a learning process and thank God for Lake County, 4-H and Lake County 4-H Ghostbusters,” Franklin said.