Florida Petting Zoo Revisited

As we reported last spring, the CGTF Investigative Team discovered a petting zoo full of bizarre goat-like creatures while on vacation and brought an example back with them. (Please see the original article here.) This spring, the Team returned to the site several times over a three day period to perform further research on the indigenous population as well as obtain a second specimen, if possible. On this trip, the goats were even more oddly behaved. They again showed no interest in any of the humans in the enclosure. They roamed the containment facility in large packs, interacting only with their own kind and worshipping a plastic idol of some sort.

Having come prepared for research this trip, the Team surreptitiously conducted experiments on the goats. Our first experiment involved baiting the goats with one of their favorite foods -- a five-year old child. The child was brought to the yard and let loose to interact on his own with the goats. He wandered among the goats unmolested for over half an hour. He even approached a small group of goats, who scarcely acknowledged his presence. Experiment number one determined that the resident "goats" were still uninterested in children.

After confirming that the animals did not eat children, the Team set about another experiment to find out just what these goats ate. Team members offered a number of the creatures several different kinds of preferred goat food. These included amusement park maps, fabric, old tires and Goat Chow™. While they showed a passing interest in the maps and tires, the Goat Chow™ and fabric were ignored. The goats did not eat anything while Team members were present, on any visit to the facility. Since the Foundation's specimen does eat all of the items offered, Team members determined that there has most likely been some alterations to the creatures since the original discovery.

Still attempting to determine the source of the odd goat behavior, Team members scanned for radio signals that might be used to control the goats. None was found, but they did discover a frequency used by the authorities at the site. After eavesdropping sporadically over the next few days, no incidents of goat-related mischief were reported. There was, however, one reports of a large herd of Thompson's gazelles swarming a safari vehicle and holding hostage for three hours before the situation was resolved.

On the final day of experiments, Team members secured a second specimen when one goat climbed into a Team member's backpack. This goat then rode quietly in the backpack until it could be moved to a safer travelling container later in the day. It seems to be some sort of rebel goat, as it was very determined in it's attempts to enter the backpack and, hence, to escape. None of the other goats showed any interest in leaving the containment facility, so Team members carefully checked for any type of homing device that might have been planted on the goat in an attempt to discover the location of the CGTF Research Facility. The goat was clean, and it was transported to our Research Facility where it shares a dwelling with the original specimen.