PORTLAND, OR (KPTV/CNN) - A farmer is upset after a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed his goat after the animal escaped Sunday morning.
It’s a short walk from Matt Minnick’s farm to the stretch of fencing at the end of his property. He said the problem may have started at a point where his fence was ripped out by a new home developer about two and a half years ago.
“Goats are escape artists, and I’m the farmer. I see this as partly my fault because I didn’t keep a closer eye on my perimeter,” Minnick said.
Officials called Minnick to a new area of housing Sunday morning. He said he told deputies he was on his way, never expecting to arrive to see his goat Volt bleeding.
“And they say, ‘Yeah, it was either me or the goat,’ and I said, ‘Man, there are 7-year-old kids that deal with these goats, and infants that crawl around with them,” Minnick said of meeting with deputies after one of them shot Volt.
Sgt. Dave Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said the incident could have been handled in a different way.
“I think if it’d been an issue where they could’ve just left him alone and waited for the farmer they would’ve done that, but they felt like they couldn’t let the animal get any further into the neighborhood,” Thompson said.
Officials said they corralled the goat in a field, but the deputy felt threatened by the goat’s size and horns. Officials said they also feared for the safety of the neighbors around him.
Now, Minnick has to find a new breeding male for his farm.
“It’s tough,” he said. “It’s tough.”
A spokesman with the sheriff’s office said the deputy made several attempts to stop the goat and had no other choice but to shoot it. Meanwhile, Minnick said he is going to file a claim with the sheriff’s office for damages.
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