'Heartless thieves' may have stolen triplet baby pygmy goats
The triplet pygmy goat kids born at Croan Cottages, Co Kilkenny, and apparently stolen after owner Francis Nesbitt posted about them on social media. Picture: Twitter/@NesbittF
'You go and post something positive and it's taken advantage of by heartless thieves'
Gardaí are currently investigating the possible theft of three newborn pygmy goats from a holiday village in Kilkenny, after their owner shared a picture of the two-day-old kids on social media.
Francis Nesbitt shared a picture on social media on Thursday of three baby pygmy goats, just born, the newest addition to a farm including goats, alpacas, sheep, and peacocks at Croan Cottages, a self-catering eco-tourism holiday accommodation centre in Kilkenny owned by Mr Nesbitt.
"On Wednesday night, the mother gave birth to two females and a male, gorgeous little things," he said.
"I've been off social media for a while, but they were so cute, it was too tempting not to post the picture of them on Thursday. And then Friday night, somebody came and took them."
Mr Nesbitt checked the enclosed paddock on Saturday to find the kids gone without a trace, with no evidence of a struggle with a predator.
“They were in a paddock with alpacas and it's well fenced. I went over the whole field looking for a drop of blood, but there wasn't any. It'd be messy if there was a fox involved, and I couldn't see a fox taking them from the mother with a couple of alpacas with them,” he said.
Well, it seems that it was a bad idea to post this on SM. Last night, the 3 baby Pygmy Goats were stolen from their mother. Wasn't a predator, not a drop of blood and they were in a well fenced paddock with Alpacas. Poor mother is bleating like mad to call them back💔 pic.twitter.com/G9JenmHSyD
— Francis Nesbitt (@NesbittF) March 26, 2022
Mr Nesbitt suspects that somebody saw his post on social media, and decided to swipe the three kids.
“Pygmy goats are very expensive these days, people love them as pets,” he said. "Females go for up to €600 and males for about €200. There were some others went missing nearby here recently, and Newbridge House had some pygmy goats stolen this year as well."
“The three little creatures were cuddled near mammy. In the first week they’re fairly stationary, they wouldn’t have even run away,” he said.
An incident in Newbridge House and Farm in Donabate was caught on CCTV last month, where two individuals scaled a wall into the grounds of the house and stole a three-week-old pygmy goat from its pen.
Mr Nesbitt said that it is “heartbreaking” to hear the mother’s constant bleating since the kids have disappeared:
Mr Nesbitt has reported the alleged theft to gardaí, who said that no arrests have been made, but investigations are ongoing.
However he said that if the kids are not returned by the end of the weekend, it could pose serious health risks to them and their mother.
“There's a risk to both the mother and the kids," he said.
"You can raise the kids on milk replacer, but there's a risk that they don't take to it. The problem with the mother is that she is full of milk and nobody's drinking it, so it'll be painful for her now once she dries off, and there's also a risk that she gets mastitis in a teat, and can’t use it any more. So, if she was ever to have another kid she wouldn't be able to feed them.
“Unless I get them back by Sunday, she'll have dried off — and even if they were to come back, if they've been handled by somebody else or if they've been covered in milk replacer, I can bring them back up to mommy and she wouldn't accept them,” he added.
He said that if someone has taken the goats after spotting them on social media, it’s a “heartless” act.
“We have the holiday cottages here, we want people to see the pictures and want to come to visit the animals and stay on their holidays. So what do you do? You post the picture to attract visitors and then it’s like you’re a target,” he said.
“Social media is so full of negative stuff. It’s terrible that when you go and post something positive, and pretty — stuff that would put a smile on somebody's face — it's then kind-of taken advantage of. Used by thieves, and particularly heartless ones in this case,” he added.
