Bucky
Date of Birth: ± 2012
Gender: Male
Gotcha Day: late 2015
Breed: Alpine Goat
In the next village over, the mayor found a billy goat in the middle of the street and, not knowing what to do with him, and as things go around this neck of the woods, he ended up in our sanctuary.
He had a flesh wound all around his neck which surely came from a collar much too small for him that dug into his skin. On top of this, his face was covered in scabies. These two factors made us think that upon noticing he had scabies his owners probably just let him go. It’s a lot cheaper than taking your animal to the vets, who are abnormally expensive in this region.
We had to treat him for several weeks by giving him a shot every day to treat scabies, which is a very contagious infestation whose symptoms are loss of hair, severe itching, and a bad rash. It can be deadly if left untreated.
We had just finished building a loafing shed (goat house) because a goatherd nearby was having some issues with neighbours and the mayor who found his goats disturbing. We were getting ready to welcome a few of them but Bucky arrived at the sanctuary first, (roughly two months earlier) claimed the loafing shed to himself and wouldn’t let the goats in at first. We believe he was alone during his years before Mudita because even today he is very much a loner. Goats are social animals and remain in a herd, so he is not displaying the typical behaviour of his species. Much like Tarabelle, he prefers to be where the humans are. Having said this, there are people he does not tolerate and in this case, he stands on his hind legs and rams into said person.
He settled in quickly and it didn’t take long for us to realise he had a very strong personality. He loves humans but he doesn’t like everyone (who does?), he is quite moody and rather stubborn but he is also incredibly charismatic.
Nowadays he shares the loafing shed with the goats but he is still the big boss, despite being half their size.
He will hang out with the goat herd but if we were to walk into the field, we can almost guarantee that Bucky would abandon the ladies and walk towards us. He then becomes very clingy and follows us like a dog… with horns.
On any given day you will find Bucky waiting by the gate between the field where Fedj and Victor are and the garden. He hopes we will let him out into the garden but we can’t do that because he eats all. the. plants.