Portland, OR — Matt Minnick is a small farmer in Portland who is now very upset after a Washington County Sheriff’s Office Deputy shot and killed his top breeding goat Sunday morning.
Because of the new construction by Minnick’s property, some damage was caused to a portion of his fence that his $1,200 prized New Zealand goat named Volt managed to escape through.
Volt was not some pit bull or rabid German Shepard — he was a goat.
As a friendly reminder, when children go to petting zoos, they are surrounded by these animals. There are thousands of petting zoos throughout the country at which children interact with goats on a daily basis. Amazingly enough, none of these children ‘fear for their lives’ and kill any of these goats.
Minnick takes responsibility for the fact that his goat escaped, saying, “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.” However, he says there was no reason for killing Volt.
While looking for his goat, deputies called Minnick out to the new area of the housing Sunday morning. When Minnick arrived, he saw Volt bleeding out, suffering a horrid fate at the hands of the deputy.
“When I walked up, he was right here, there was one officer right here. The goat was there huffin’ and puffin’,” Minnick explained.
When he got the call, Minnick hurried over to help bring his goat back home, however, he never expected that cops would’ve killed him.
“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. Infants that deal with these,'” said Minnick.
Minnick explained to KPTV that Volt’s breed is known for its calm temperament. He is utterly shocked at the excuse the cop gave him for killing the goat.
Naturally, the department is standing behind the deputy’s decision to kill the petting zoo prodigy.
“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 animals get any farther into the neighborhood,” said Sgt. Dave Thompson with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
As KPTV reports, fear was the main factor for the deputy killing the goat. Deputies say they corralled the goat in the field, but the deputy felt threatened by the goat’s size and horns. The deputy also feared for the safety of the neighbors around him.
The Washington County Sheriff’s office released a statement this week noting that their deputy had no other options left other than pulling out his gun and putting a bullet in the goat.
Perhaps the deputy should’ve called over a small child, who would’ve simply played with the goat until Minnick was able to help corral him. After all, to a child, a goat is awesome and is certainly nothing to fear.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” Minnick told FOX 12.
Minnick is now going to file a formal complaint and plans to put in a claim for damages.