When goats wander

Church visit by a mountain goat

Did you hear the one about a goat that walked into a church? If this sounds like a line from a joke, read on.

  As a subscriber to my blog or if you've perused my writing, you know that I’m a fan of the mountain goat. There’s so much to admire about these beasts of the peaks that inhabit remote, rugged realms. They’re adapted to survive there. And it’s the only place they live.

Yet on rare occasions, an itinerant goat can be found in very unexpected places. Like this instance that sounds like something AI generated. But nope, it’s not. And it happened right here in Bozeman, Montana!

  When a staff member of Grace Bible Church drove up for a day at work, he found the most unusual visitor (would-be worshiper) at the front door.  Custodian Paul Gray said over the years he’s seen fox, coyote, bears and even a mountain lion on the church grounds. But a male mountain goat, standing at the front door, was the least expected visitor.  And this young billy was in no hurry to leave, enabling a local TV crew to capture it all on film.  Soon, personnel of the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks arrived, drug-immobilized the compliant animal, and whisked it away some 7 miles south to the Gallatin Range -- the young goat's likely home where the nearest population of its kind resides.

  In case you still think that I made this up, check out this news video clip.   

  So, the first question that comes to mind is why did this goat show up for church … and on a Wednesday?  Do goats worship? Did this one have much to repent for? Perhaps excessive bullying of others in its herd? Or repeatedly displacing herdmates from prime bedding spots? Or did it simply get an itch to explore?  If only we could communicate with wildlife to learn the answers to such mysteries?

  Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts in the comment space at the bottom of this blog post.

And here's a link to my previous post about a new species of wild cat discovered in Bolivia's cloud forest. A glitch in my blog's software may have prevented some of you from being able to open the post.