So Sad

[Oat Bucket Farm]

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...bay&id=7815753

Vic Lee
More: Bio, E-mail, News Team
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A company that uses goats to keep grass under control on hillsides and empty lots is in serious trouble. The owner of Goats R Us has been arrested and charged with animal abuse after police found sick and dying goats on a piece of property where the old Oak Knoll Naval Hospital is located in the Oakland hills.


Oakland Animal Services Director Megan Webb showed ABC7 video she took of starving baby and pigmy goats at the former Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. The video shows a dying goat being trampled by others vying for the hay which animal control officers had brought.

Investigators did not show the most shocking photographs, saying that evidence would be released in court during trial. The images were so graphic that the judge at the preliminary hearing said the scene resembled a "goat concentration camp."

The family-owned company has thousands of goats grazing across the state, working to reduce brush, minimizing fire danger. Goats R Us was hired to do the same thing at the former naval base, which may be converted into a housing and shopping center.

When animal control officers showed up Oct. 2 they smelled rotting flesh in a courtyard of the sprawling 167 acre site.

"There were multiple dead goats on the scene in various stages of decomposition, everywhere from skeletons to brandly new goats," Webb said. "We counted 10 goats that had perished there and we also impounded four goats that were very, very sick."

Webb says about 60 goats were in the courtyard, all very hungry.

"They had no food that we could locate; the food that they had eaten, the vegetation they had stripped the trees all the way to the point that they could reach," she said. "Most of the animals were sick with parasites, pneumonia, other diseases."

Oakland Zoo curators were brought in to help with the animals.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Gaidos says his office was affected by what they saw.

"They were quite shocked at the level of the health of the goats and the conditions the goats were in," he said.

Police arrested Egon Oyarzun, who owns the business with his wife. He was charged with animal abuse and neglect. He will be arraigned next week in Alameda County.

One of the company's herders was arrested as well.


(Copyright ©2010 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

[KnowOneSpecial]

You would think that someone who puts their goats out in public would keep them in better shape than that.

They need to go without food and get parasites for a while.

[wintrrwolf]

How? Why?
I am actually thinking of possible starting a business up in spring through Rent a Ruminent, this Goats R Us is just shameful!

[mygoat]

The fact that the article said they had 'new' goats there means that SOMEONE had to have shown up to drop them off - and HOW could they miss the dead/rotting/starving ones? UGH!

Rent-a-goat might be a good way to grow up meat wethers or something. I've thought minimally about it. Mainly, I worry about disease transmission if the people also contract with other goat herds and my goats mix with theirs - hence I'd only use meat wethers or something. Every year at weaning, meat wethers could become available for rent. The places that rent them for land clearing would essentially feed them from the land, and they'd only need minerals and water which I would make sure was available to them by visiting at least weekly though I'd probably go at least 2x or more per week to check on them - so rental would HAVE to be local for me. It could feasibly be a cheap way to raise meat wethers, however, and make an additional profit on them by renting them.

[wintrrwolf]

I would have to agree mygoat after thinking for sometime on the stress of transporting and all I couldn't in all good conscience subject my doe's to this, so would have to start up a wether's society of brush eaters
from the brief news feed I saw it seems allot of the goats in the court yard were small or very young goats.

Another thing I like about Rent a Ruminent is there is a goat wrangler onsite at all times, the goats are never left unguarded or uncared for...and on stip. I would demand upon I will not mix my goats with someone else's herd of goats!! If one does not have enough goats to do the job then don't take the job!!

[fishhead]

I don't have the details but it would seem that with thousands of goats they are relying on other people to tend at least some of the goats. Maybe they put their trust in the wrong person?

[Laverne]

I hope they lose their whole business.

[tailwagging]

I have to agree with fishhead. if you watch the video they say that one of his "herder" was also arrested. and that there were 100's of more goats there that were healthy. So could it just be a illness?

[Cannon_Farms]

They say over a hundred goats are grazing on the hill side seem healthy so i wonder if these may have been newer goats that they had separated? In any case there is no excuse.