When a couple in Evergreen, Colorado, returned home after Christmas last year, they were intrigued by several images captured on their trail camera.
A small white goat roamed Charles Ray and Ginger Dodson’s backyard, all alone. The couple was used to seeing mountain lions, bobcats and bears, but a tiny goat was new.
Charles Ray
“Initially, we thought his owners would come home and he’d go home,” Dodson told The Dodo. “So we ignored him … but we were still getting attached to him. He would come and watch us.”
After a few weeks, Ray called around to animal control, but they couldn’t help. Dodson worried predators in the area would go after the goat.
Charles Ray
“You go out to the hot tub to meditate,” Dodson laughed, “and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, that goat’s going to get it.’ So it’s quite ruining my hot tub meditation.”
Unable to sit idly by, Ray and Dodson reached out to Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary and came up with a plan to save the goat (who they later learned is female).
It turned out that Evergreen residents first spotted the goat wandering around their mountain community in 2024. The sightings continued — a white speck against gray rocks, the silhouette of horns on a cliff — for more than a year.
Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary
In a community Facebook group, one person asked, “Are there any mountain goats in Evergreen?” The answer is yes, but rocky mountain goats are large, with thick coats and black horns.
With guidance from Broken Shovels, Ray and Dodson offered their new goat friend some animal crackers and carrots. They placed the snacks inside a large dog pen in a neighbor’s yard to get the goat comfortable with them.
Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary
“We started talking to her and making friends with her,” Dodson said.
In late January, just before a winter storm rolled in, Dodson and Ray made their move. After luring the goat with a bowl of carrots and apples, Dodson pulled a cord rigged to the pen door, blocking the animal in.
“She immediately rammed the door,” Dodson said. “She was mad.” But she was safe.
Broken Shovels’ team arrived and transported the goat to their facility.
Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary
“She was in surprisingly good condition, other than what was likely some frostbite on her nose,” Andrea Davis, Broken Shovels’ director, told The Dodo. “Her hooves looked perfectly trimmed, being worn down from all the rock climbing.”
They named her Griselda and identified her as a cross between a Nigerian dwarf and a pygmy goat. Griselda was likely dumped after living with a herd and a home, which makes her survival in the Colorado mountains even more remarkable.
“This little girl had to be incredibly clever and resourceful to have remained out there alone for so long,” Davis said.
Charles Ray
She’s also a funny girl who desperately missed having friends.
“She warmed up in mere days,” Davis said. “She started being very talkative, demanding and communicative … She’s such an extrovert, so living all alone had to have been really hard for her.”
Davis found a permanent home for Griselda at Sticker Weed Farm, a private sanctuary, where she is already making new friends.
Though most of her pals are now other goats, Ray and Dodson hope Griselda doesn’t forget them.
“She was just a beautiful goat,” Ray said. “We still kind of miss seeing her around.”
If you want to keep up with Griselda, you can follow Sticker Weed Farm on Facebook.
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