#Maine goat runs into ocean after fleeing vet, saved with kayaker’s help

This goat went on the lam.

A pet goat in Maine fled a veterinary appointment and ran into the frigid ocean — swimming for more than half an hour before being rescued by cops and a kayaker.

The 4-year-old kid took off from the parking lot of the Belfast Veterinary Hospital on Tuesday, dashing through a retirement community before making its way to the beach, police said.

Three officers chased the animal on the waterfront, catching the eye of local Jerri Holmes, who was cooking chili inside her home, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The year-round-kayaker watched as the goat swam out into the chilly waters, followed by the cops, who waded waist deep into the ocean after it.

“There’s no way this goat was turning around,” Holmes recalled to local outlet WMTW-TV.

So she dropped her lunch, grabbed a life jacket, neoprene gloves and a rope and got into her kayak.

“There was no hesitation,” Holmes said. “What am I going to do? It would have died.” 

“I had in mind that I could go on the far side of the goat and herd him into shore,” she added to the Daily News.

But it wasn’t easy.

Holmes tried to swing a rope around the animal’s horns, but it kept on slipping out of the lasso. Then, the wind blew her paddle away in the 28 degree temperatures.

Using her hands to propel the kayak, she was able to block the goat’s path and get it to swim back toward the shore, where other bystanders helped bring it onto dry land.

Residents of the retirement community were also on hand with heads of lettuce, a bucket of grain and blankets for the animal, cops said.

The “escape-goat” was eventually returned safely to its owner — and brought back to the veterinary hospital.

Vet staffers said the tough old goat was doing well after the escapade.