Goats, Fences, and Lies - (long post)

[sweetshoplady]

So yesterday morning a trailer crashed into my fence (the people repaired it that day). Then, not 10 minutes later, Animal Services shows up on my doorstep, in response to a call about my goats.

The caller said that my goats were tied up - yes they were. I told the man that it is easier to bring everyone out, even the kids and tie them in various locations while I am milking the three does. Milk one, grab the next, milk her, etc. I told him that the day before, I decided to put the 2 kids down at the far end of the property where there is an abundance of yummy vines to eat.

He said the caller said that my goats did not have shelter. I turned and pointed to their "house" (a cover for a compressor - big enough for them to walk under (has windows too)) and said yes they do, however they seem to prefer to sleep on the hills under those trees where they are now. (I have 4' high hills under the pine trees - formed naturally)

He said the caller said that there was no one home. I said, I was here until 1. The kids are let in to eat when I milk the 3rd goat, because the adults will eat the babies' food. When all are milked, the adult does are let in to have their hay. He said that he could see that if I was in the garage milking that they wouldn't have seen me. (Crazy, I have 2 trucks, both were there - I don't look for a person in their yard to see if they're home or not)

He said, Oh you have chickens in your garage. I said yes, the chickens sleep on the garage door, its very safe. The little ones are too small to be with the big ones, they will beat them up and hurt them. During the day, the little ones go in that pen over there.

he said are you all right? you're not in trouble today. I said, did you see my fence where they ran into it and now you're here. He said, you haven't done anything wrong. Are you having a feud with a neighbor? No, I'm on good terms with my neighbors.

Had to be someone going to the gun range. I live on a rather busy street, because of the gun range.

I wish that I had the nice deluxe accomodations that so many of you have. I want a chicken coop and have plans to build a milking barn, mostly because my garage is so hot and I have more chickens than I did before - 12 rather than 5.

Anyway, having animal services show up with a complaint of "cruelty" was very upsetting. My animals are healthy and friendly and follow me around. The good part was that 2 of the 3 things they said were lies. Also, where the goat was tied, the vines are so thick, they make a canopy and if you're shorter than 4 feet. you can stand there in the shade and eat the vines. The animal officer said, just try to tie them so they are not in view of the road.

 

[chcknrs]

Stupid city slickers! un

 

[All about the EGG]

Dont jump to conclusions...possibly they called out of concern because of what they THOUGHT they saw driving by.

You never know, but lies? Too bad you could not hear the phone call. Maybe it started like this, "I just drove by a house, and the goats were tied up to trees, and its sunny out. It does not look like they have shade. Could someone check on them?" (quotations?)

Usually, animal control wardens will observe before they call on a complaint.

Possibly the caller cares about animals as much as you do?

Dont fret over it, you will never know the reason for the call. You will just get madder. Go down to the range and shoot off a couple boxes of ammo at a target, great stress reliever, works for me!

 

[barred rock'er]

I agree with the egg lol. go empty a couple Cartridges at the range,some automatic gunfire will cool ya down.

I think this whole thing is just another example of people stickin their noses where they shouldent be!
Ya know it seems like the people that care for their animals the most are the ones that get targeted.

Whoever made that call should take a few tours of some "commercial" farms. That'll give them something to pick up the phone about.

 

[holliewould]

The person that called probably has one of them dwarf doggies shoved in a Gucci bag or something.

 

[miss_thenorth]

It is always unnerving when someone calls about your animals. i know the indignation that you feel. I have been a victim of it with my dogs, my sis has also with her dog. It is embarrassing and makes you feel like you need to prove yourself, when most of the calls animal control get are for ppl who care for their animals very well.

However, there ARE ppl out there who do not take good care of their animals, and animal control needs to check.

the call I got was b/c of a jealous neighbour who was mad b/c we didn't invite her to a neighbourhood bbq. My sis got a visit similar to yours. Someone drove by, saw something questionable, and called. If they had talked to you personally, the call would have been unneccessary, like my sisters. Unfortunately, ppl don't do that these days.

Don't take it personally. If there was a reason to be concerned you would be in trouble. Whoever called would probably be relieved to know what was gong on.

Also, I wouldn't change anything you are doing. After all-- you didn'tn do anything wrong.

 

[sweetshoplady]

I'm sure that the person who called meant well. Probably didn't know that the goats liked to eat the vines. (I didn't til I got them). I was blindsided by what happened. I was more upset that they said I wasn't home. Their shelter is not easily visible from the road.

Yes, animal services must come out regardless. And he was very nice. He did see that I was upset about the complaint - not mad, but anxious about what's going to happen.

The lies were that I wasn't home and that there was no shelter. I wonder if they thought the goats were on an adjacent property (like that my property was perhaps 2 - because I have 2 entrances. But the animal officer and the person who ran into my fence had no difficulty finding me. Both came to the entrance by the house.

 

[flakey chick]

I almost did something like that. I saw these horribly neglected horses that were skin and bones. I pointed them out to my husband as we drove by. Then I started to think about it a bit more. We drive by that property frequently and had never seen THOSE horses there. All the horses we had seen there before were reasonably well taken care of. I realized before I called that those horses must have been rescued from somewhere else.

 

[ChickenToes]

I have a friend who lived on a farm growing up. Their weird neighbors would call animal services all the time and complain about them, and it was all lies. And yet their weird neighbors are the ones that let their geese free range all up and down the highway...I don't know how many times I've seen them all over the road.

Some people just love to complain, I guess.

 

[Skyesrocket]

A good friend goes through this every summer. She lives on a state highway and her 70 acre pasture can be seen from the road.
It seems that some people don't know that horses will lay down to take an afternoon nap. And they call the humane society to report that my friend has dead horses laying in her pasture.

This happens to her 3-4 times a year.