Reward for wandering goat increases

Published 10:47am Monday, January 16, 2012

If the challenge of capturing the goat on the loose in Fergus Falls isn’t motivation enough, the news that the reward for catching it has increased to $250 might be.Florida

The goat’s owners, Karen and Jim Aakre, have their fingers crossed that the errant animal will be caught this weekend as the weather is expected to take a turn for the worse early next week, which could threaten its survival.

“Up to this point it’s been fine,” Jim Aakre said. “It’s got mohair angora hair, so it has a heavy, warm coat. And it’s hard to tell what it’s been eating besides grass, but if the weather gets colder, it will need grain. The snow, of course, will make it more difficult to find food.”

Aakre was “shocked” to hear that the animal — which slipped its leash outside of Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Christmas Eve and has been wandering around Fergus Falls for the past couple weeks — may have been seen on County Highway 111 on the former Norgren junkyard property northeast of Fergus Falls Friday.

“I was kind of hoping it would stay in that area (around the grain elevator where there is corn on the ground),” he said, adding that he had thought he might set a trap for it this weekend. But, he added, the latest sighting far from the grain elevator area “blows a hole in that theory.”

The trap idea, in which he would likely set up a pen with another goat inside with a cattle pen around that enclosure, only works if the goat is staying in a specific area, he said.

Still, he is hopeful that the wayward goat will be captured this weekend, with so many people expected to be out looking for it.

“I’ve talked to lots of people who say ‘I’m going to get that goat,’” he said. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”

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  1. Kelly Chandler

    Goat is now in the country, and has a $250 reward on its head. I’m thinking that they may want to be clear that this is not a dead or alive reward……………….
    Just saying. LOL!

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