243 goats die after big-rig overturns in CA

[Ford8N]

This made Drudge Report:

243 goats die after big-rig overturns in San Rafael

[BlueHeronFarm]

I saw this this morning.

[Idahoe]

OMG. I can just see the survivors munching away on all the poisonous landscaping plants . . .

[Ken in Maine]

I have made two trips from Texas to Maine in the past 8 months carrying 180 goats on a double deck gooseneck trailer on each trip. This is always a fear in the back of my mind and something I am very aware of. Unfortunately there is no easy, safe and economical way to haul goats except in these large numbers. As goats become more and more popular this type of thing will be happening more often. There was a case of a double decker rolling over in the Washington DC area last Fall.

It is amazing to see other drivers doing foolish and careless things when passing a livestock trailer. They don't realize that you can not stop on a dime... Livestock can slip and slide. They can be a very fluid cargo.

My heart goes out to the owner of Goats R Us!

[thatcompchick]

Ugh, what a waste.

I'm sure there may be a new starting point to a feral goat population - there were 400+ on there, so quite a few goats running...

Andrea

[rranch]

Justs makes me so sad, mad, and fearful of the future. I think of my goaties as pets, not livestock. It's hard to seperate my bonding with these beatiful animals. Even my friend who raises them to sell for meat loves them like kids.

[dezeeuwgoats]

Here's the company's website - sounds like a really neat company:

http://goatsrus.com/what_we_do.htm

I read the article - the poor goats, and the poor owner. I cannot imagine how awful it would be to go through something like that. Seems all involved were very affected by the tragedy.

Sincerely;
Niki

[Ken in Maine]

When you read the article one thing that keeps jumping out is "the people who tried to keep the goats contained in the trailer"... that's probably where a good number of them died. The goats freaked out and paniced... trampling and smothering those under them. If they had just let the goats out they (the goats) would have calmed down and simply started eating whatever was near by.. I guess they figured it's easier to round up dead goats than capture live ones.

Well meaning people cause more harm than good because they don't know how to handle livestock.

We've had goats get loose here on the farm when we have had visitors and the first thing they do is chase after them.. I usually tell the visitors to get in their vehicles and stop chasing the goats. After a couple minutes the goats settle down and can be directed into pens.

[lilly foote]

theres a better article on this at www.reuter.com tells the owners thoughts and such. In the right top corner just put goat in the search and it will bring up the article
this is just so terrible
I did e-mail her to let her know that i was thinking about her

Lilly foote

[Milk n' Honey]

How awful. Ya know, they probably figured the goats had to be contained the only way they had at the time which was on the trailer. That is really too bad. I love goats too. The truth is, if they had just let the goats out...maybe they'd run over and eat and maybe they'd cause another accident and kill some people coming down the road....maybe a pile-up or something. I'm sure the goats were freaked out but you have to contain those animals on a busy road to prevent human loss. I'm glad I wasn't there. What an awful sight that must have been. They should have brought out some sort of temp. corral to hold them in but they probably wouldn't be prepared for something like this. What a huge loss for that company. Poor people and poor animals. I hope their insurance would the animal loss. It would be sickening.

[chamoisee]

They would never force a tipped busload of injured people to remain in the vehicle. I don't think they would have done this with horses or dogs, either. I think she ought to consider pursuing financial compensation...hopefully she has insurance.