Six baby goats that were discovered missing Monday morning from the Cross E Ranch just outside Salt Lake City were found late in the afternoon in a yard at about 500 South and Redwood Road.
Dalon Hinckley told The Salt Lake Tribune that a woman came home from work and found the kids on her property. She had no idea where they came from, he said.
Hinckley, who runs the ranch with his sister Heather Limon, believes whoever stole the animals got nervous because of the news coverage and just left them in the yard. He said the goats were hungry but seem fine.
”We thought there was no way those goats were going to be found,” he said.
In addition to farming, the ranch, at 3500 N. 2000 West, offers interactive experiences to connect people with agriculture and holds public events, including festivals.
The goats are all 3- or 4-weeks-old and were still being bottle fed with their mothers’ milk, said Limon.
“If they don’t feed them correctly, they’ll just keep crying and crying,” Limon said.
The baby goats — two males and four females named Reggie, Archie, Aspen, Mila, Fawn and Josie — shared a pen with a baby pig named Oli. On Monday morning, Oli was in the pen and the door was shut, but the kids were nowhere to be seen, despite a search of the area.
Oli had been sharing living quarters with the goats because he was lonely, Limon said, adding that “now he’s lonely again.”
She said there were other signs that thieves are responsible for the disappearance of the goats, including a four-wheeler that belongs to the ranch sitting abandoned in the middle of the road.
Cross E’s security cameras did not catch the theft of the goats, which are worth about $1,400, according to the ranch’s Facebook postings. Limon said the kids were going to be part of the ranch’s yearly Baby Animal Festival, which begins April 4.
“The goats are always the favorite,” she said.
