Police in Wiltshire resorted to riot shields and a lasso to capture a runaway goat that went on the rampage in a village, chasing a woman and attempting to eat a festive wreath. The animal was spotted trotting around Upper Seagry, near Chippenham, on Thursday morning, with an eyewitness telling the BBC it had chased a woman and tried to nibble oranges from a Christmas wreath.
Wiltshire Police officers arrived at the scene and used the unconventional equipment to subdue the goat, which also tried to chew on safety gear from the back of their patrol car. Body-worn camera footage captured an officer saying: “Apparently it’s not very nice. We’ve got it on a tow line, we’ve got some [riot] shields because he’s trying to butt my head.”
The animal briefly slipped the lasso before being re-captured and safely returned to its owner. A police spokesperson confirmed that PC Ferris and PC Miller, from the Chippenham Response team, responded swiftly and controlled the situation.
In a separate incident in October, a goat stranded at the bottom of a bridge arch in Cumbria prompted a multi-agency rescue. Three fire crews and police were dispatched to Longtown Bridge in Carlisle after reports that someone had entered the water while trying to reach the animal. The person managed to extricate themselves, but firefighters were sent to retrieve the goat to prevent a repeat incident.
