By Susanna Patari | Project manager, Grumpy Old Goat Lady
Greetings and many many BAAA-AAAAs from Gili Trawangan, Indonesia!
This is our very first report about goats, so we will start from the beginning. What is Goats Of Gili? How did we end up having a group of goats in our care? What has happened so far?
What is Goats Of Gili?
Goats Of Gili is our little animal welfare project for a group of goats we have rescued. We currently have 10 goats. We rescued them when they really needed help, we nursed them back to health and we have given them a forever home.
We will organize vet visits for goats, should the need arise. We are also ready to help goats with health issues whenever needed and we keep a good stock of basic medication at hand. We hope our example will help people to learn how to look after goats properly and how amazing goats really are. Goats are smart and funny, they make great pets and are very entertaining (if you don't mind them eating everything)!
Biggest goat rescue ever
This all starts with our cat project Cats Of Gili. Cats Of Gili has been helping our island cats since 2013, and they have always helped other animals too. They already had chickens and ducks, and then came one poor goat back in 2024, and about a year later another goat. Both these goats were found wandering the streets alone and in very bad shape, so Cats Of Gili took in both goats, nursed them to health and gave them a home at their GrumpyOldCatLady’s back garden.
And once the story got out that they have successfully helped some very sick goats… it was just a question of time when more goats start coming.
At the end of last year we were told about a local family who had several goats and the goats were not doing well. We visited, we donated some medicines to the family, we and some friends were popping in to check to see what is going on. However, by the end of January, things were not looking too good, and as much as the family loved their goats, they were also clearly overwhelmed. Several of their goats had died, the remaining goats were very sick and it was all just too much. We discussed the situation with the family, offering help, and in the end the family made a very hard decision to give the goats away. They asked if we could take all the remaining goats and we we said yes. We were, and still are, super grateful the family trusted us in this.
And to be honest....While we said yes without blinking an eye, we were also terrified. There was eight goats... oh dear!
It was not an ideal situation. Our cat project is lot of work already and on top of that, there was quite enough rescued animals to take care of: chickens, ducks and the 2 goats we had rescued before. Adding EIGHT sick, weak, malnourished goats to this… absolute madness. But how could anyone walk away and leave the goats to die? Not us, that’s for sure.
So we gathered some friends and volunteers and went and got the goats. One goat was too weak to walk, and had to be carried. One goat collapsed on the way. Rest were able to walk but were very skinny, dehydrated, malnourished. All had scabies/mange so they looked quite horrible, skin covered in a thick gray scabs. There was also eye infections and who knew what else.
Medical treatment was started immediately and plans for feeding them were made. Getting enough food so many goats was not an easy task. Goats need lots of food and eat pretty much as much as you give them. In the beginning we had friends go collecting tree branches daily, one friend hired two local boys to do this also for a while and we added couple of new resorts and restaurants for our food waste collection effort. But still, with all this, feeding and medical treatment of the goats took a few hours every day. And there were goats that were not able to even get up, so it was very hard to see them like that. Very quickly, it all became overwhelming to us too, so it has been quite a challenge to get through these months. There’s been tears and desperation, we’ve been stressed, scared and exhausted, we’ve struggled to keep going, but in the end, looking back, it’s all been worth it.
As of writing this, we’ve had the goats for about 6 months now. Miraculously, everyone is alive and doing great. Even the weakest goats pulled through, they are up on their feet, they are healthy, happy and goofy! Very entertaining too, just the way only goats can be.
We will introduce some of our goats more in detail in our coming reports, this was just to tell you how it all came to this. And to tell you shortly that every goat we rescued is alive and doing well, and that is why it has all been worth it! We love our goats!
OUR STORY SO FAR
PLANS AND DREAMS FOR THE FUTURE
How YOU can help?
THANK YOU everyone! We could not do what we do without your help. The support and donations from all you animal loving people around the world means a lot, so from the bottom of our heart: THANK YOU!
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