{"id":495314,"date":"2026-02-28T08:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495314\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T08:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:53:11","slug":"tiny-mountain-goat-moves-into-colorado-town-but-shes-not-what-she-appears-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495314\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny \u2018Mountain Goat\u2019 Moves Into Colorado Town \u2014 But She’s Not What She Appears To Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a couple in Evergreen, Colorado, returned home after Christmas last year, they were intrigued by several images captured on their trail camera.<\/p>\n

A small white goat roamed Charles Ray and Ginger Dodson\u2019s backyard, all alone. The couple was used to seeing mountain lions, bobcats and bears, but a tiny goat was new.<\/p>\n

\"ACharles Ray<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, we thought his owners would come home and he’d go home,\u201d Dodson told The Dodo. \u201cSo we ignored him \u2026 but we were still getting attached to him. He would come and watch us.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a few weeks, Ray called around to animal control, but they couldn\u2019t help. Dodson worried predators in the area would go after the goat.<\/p>\n

Charles Ray<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go out to the hot tub to meditate,\u201d Dodson laughed, \u201cand you’re thinking, \u2018Oh, that goat’s going to get it.\u2019 So it’s quite ruining my hot tub meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unable to sit idly by, Ray and Dodson reached out to Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary<\/a> and came up with a plan to save the goat (who they later learned is female).<\/p>\n

It turned out that Evergreen residents first spotted the goat wandering around their mountain community in 2024. The sightings continued \u2014 a white speck against gray rocks, the silhouette of horns on a cliff \u2014 for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Broken Shovels Farm Sanctuary<\/p>\n

In a community Facebook group, one person asked, \u201cAre there any mountain goats in Evergreen?\u201d The answer is yes, but rocky mountain goats are large, with thick coats and black horns.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s yard to get the goat comfortable with them.<\/p>\n

\"ABroken Shovels Farm Sanctuary<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started talking to her and making friends with her,\u201d Dodson said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe immediately rammed the door,\u201d Dodson said. \u201cShe was mad.\u201d But she was safe.<\/p>\n

Broken Shovels\u2019 team arrived and transported the goat to their facility.<\/p>\n

\"ABroken Shovels Farm Sanctuary<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in surprisingly good condition, other than what was likely some frostbite on her nose,\u201d Andrea Davis, Broken Shovels\u2019 director, told The Dodo. \u201cHer hooves looked perfectly trimmed, being worn down from all the rock climbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis little girl had to be incredibly clever and resourceful to have remained out there alone for so long,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n

\"ACharles Ray<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also a funny girl who desperately missed having friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe warmed up in mere days,\u201d Davis said. \u201cShe started being very talkative, demanding and communicative \u2026 She\u2019s such an extrovert, so living all alone had to have been really hard for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis found a permanent home for Griselda at Sticker Weed Farm<\/a>, a private sanctuary, where she is already making new friends.<\/p>\n

Though most of her pals are now other goats, Ray and Dodson hope Griselda doesn\u2019t forget them.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was just a beautiful goat,\u201d Ray said. \u201cWe still kind of miss seeing her around.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to keep up with Griselda, you can follow Sticker Weed Farm on Facebook<\/a>.\"Rescued<\/a>Rescued Goat Rushes To Comfort His Mom When He Senses She\u2019s In Pain”These moments make it so worth it.”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When a couple in Evergreen, Colorado, returned home after Christmas last year, they were intrigued by several images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3832,616,226617,29647,226619,226618,226469,226616,226615,614,79,615,613,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-495314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-colorado","9":"tag-daily-dodo","10":"tag-domestic-goat","11":"tag-goat","12":"tag-goat-in-colorado","13":"tag-goat-rescue","14":"tag-mountain-goat","15":"tag-pet-goat","16":"tag-pygmy-goat","17":"tag-sarah-ashley","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-standard","20":"tag-the-dodo","21":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}