Free Republic

SNIPPET: "Search at Grundy County plant called part of ongoing probe" SNIPPET: "But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago. Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said."

YOU'VE seen them as mythical beasts in the Chronicles of Narnia - now a village has been left shellshocked after the birth of a bizarre faun-like creature with the combined features of a man and a goat. Bild reports the goat, which died just a few hours after birth in Lower Gweru, Zimbabwe, had a huge head and face which resembled a human as well as goat legs and a tail. Villagers said the end product was so scary even dogs were afraid to go close to it. They burned the corpse fearing it was an evil sign. "This is...

Authorities removed 432 animals from a Citra home Thursday and Friday, to the delight of neighbors who say the menagerie was noisy and unsightly.Almost 200 animals were living cramped inside the home, including more than 150 birds, 37 dogs and two cats. The rest, including 23 goats and sheep, 74 geese, 15 turkeys, some exotic birds, snakes and gopher tortoises, were scattered around the fenced, half-acre lot in a rural area of Citra, officials said.Dawn Stephen, an animal compliance official for Marion County, said authorities became aware of the problem when paramedics were called to the residence to treat the...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A Kenyan man's offer of 40 goats and 20 cows for Chelsea Clinton's hand in marriage may still be on the table - and Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised to convey the "very kind offer" to her daughter.

CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah, July 28, 2009 – When it comes to fighting wildfires, most people immediately think of water or fire retardant dropped from helicopters and other aircraft, or soot-covered firefighters using hoses and foam to battle back towering blazes. Jason Garn checks on his goats, which the Utah Army National Guard is using to create a firebreak on Camp Williams, near Salt Lake City. The goats have proven their worth during more than one fire season by consuming brush that would fuel wildfires. U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Hank McIntire  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Few people,...

I was reading an old newspaper story (from the 1920s) about a goat-gland operation in New York City, and decided to google "goat glands."

Despite their energy-saving efforts, wind farms have a bad rap for killing birds. And now there may be a bigger problem: The noise from turbines could be killing livestock as well—or, at least, playing a part in their deaths. According to one Taiwanese farmer, Kuo Jin-shan, the turbines erected near his farm on an island in the Taiwan Strait have been keeping his goats awake at night. Now that 400 of Huo’s goats have died, he is blaming their deaths on the loud noise coming from the wind farms. After eight turbines were installed on the Penghu archipelago four years...

Last week, Google brought in a herd of goats to mow the grass on its Mountain View, Calif. headquarters rather than using lawnmowers. The company said that it wanted to take a more "low-carbon" approach with the goats reducing the company's contribution to air and noise pollution. SNIP PETA responded to a TechCrunch call about the goats, saying that though they have no problem with letting goats do what they do, they do have concerns about how they were transported and whether they have enough shelter and water. Google said that though the goats were not technically employees, "each goat...

81-year-old accused in killing By Erin Sullivan, Times Staff Writer Published Saturday, April 25, 2009 SHADY HILLS — The man was shirtless, belly to the sun, near a patch of purple wildflowers. He laid where he fell, splayed, just before 1 p.m. Saturday, between the road and his neighbor's chain-link fence. Seth Sigmon, 29, lived on the dead-end side of Connie Court in Shady Hills. Neighbors say he has a son and that his wife was getting out of the shower when he was slain. Authorities say his next-door neighbor, 81-year-old John Croft, shot Sigmon multiple times with a .22...

Charlton — After moseying into a stainless steel milking pen recently, an alabaster goat tagged K0301 munched from a bowl of grain as staff hooked up milking equipment for her next life-saving contribution to medicine. K0301's purpose in life is not to give the world another log of goat cheese; Instead, thanks to some genetic modification, she produces an anti-clotting protein in her milk for patients with a rare disorder. But if K0301's lactation has been tweaked, it's not apparent: During a visit this month she looked and sounded the same as the regular goats kept nearby to feed the...

On the morning of December 18, a week before Christmas, a woman showed up at Sharon Palmer’s Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula, CA, wanting to purchase some goat cheese—for an upcoming holiday party, she said. What happened next was that Sharon found herself in serious trouble, though there are two versions of exactly how she got there...

A column that ran in the University of Washington's student newspaper decrying gay marriage — and illustrated with the image of a man standing next to a sheep — has hundreds of students up in arms. But editors of The Daily are standing behind what they say is free speech. Organizers of the campus group "Students for a Hate Free Daily" say they expect about 300 people to show up for a campus rally today after more than 1,000 signed up with the group online. The Graduate and Professional Student Senate, meanwhile, passed a resolution this week demanding the paper...

He has a host of relatives in exotic locations from Hawaii to Kenya, and during his run for the American presidency he discovered that he had an aunt living in Boston. Now Barack Obama is being claimed by not one but as many as 8,000 Beduin tribesmen in northern Israel. Although the spokesman for the lost tribe of Obama has yet to reveal the documentary evidence that he says he possesses to support his claim, people are flocking from across the region to pay their respects to the “Beduin Obama”, whose social standing has gone through the roof. “We knew...

A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain. Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists. British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets....

MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)--Four hundred goats descended on the verdant hillsides of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in July, cutting the grass as well as the seminary's costs for landscaping staff. "We save approximately $5,000 in labor and materials by contracting with Goats-R-Us," said Robert Dvorak, the seminary's facilities management director. Additional potential costs if Golden Gate staff did this work are possible injuries from attempting to use mowers and weed whackers on the steep terrain or potential poison oak infections, both of which could incur medical treatment and loss of work time. The goats, which were stationed for three...

If you are concerned about the growing intrusiveness of regulators into our private lives, then you may want to read about Robin Countryman-Velk and her Kiddin’ Korral Animal and Activities project in the Napa, California, area. Kiddin’ Korral is part of a 1,400-acre dude ranch that is owned and operated by some 1,400 owners (the acreage is not divided). The owners have an association with a board of directors that oversees the operations. The owners can use the place any time they want—it has 100 cabins, 200 campsites, a couple of large pools and, for the last two years, the...

GAUHATI, India - A lawmaker said he sacrificed more than 200 goats and four buffaloes at a temple in northeastern India to thank a goddess for delivering victory to the prime minister's government last week.....

Cashmere goats in India face starvation By AIJAZ HUSSAIN ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER An elderly man belonging to the Chang-pa mountain tribe holds his Himalayan goat as his son cuts its horn that was hurting the animal's eye in Kharnak, some 185 kilometers (116 miles) from Leh, India, in this July 21, 2007 photo. More than 100,000 Himalayan goats famed for their pashmina wool or cashmere face starvation after their desert habitat was blanketed with snow, while three people died during the region's worst storms in three decades, officials said Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) SRINAGAR, India -- More...

Adam Gadahn was just another Riverside County devotee of death metal, but then he turned up on an FBI terror list If the radical right wanted to paint a portrait of a terrorist, they couldn’t do much better than Yahiye Adam Gadahn. In fact, the FBI’s announcement last May that it was actively seeking Gadahn for questioning regarding his possible ties to Al Qaeda energized conservatives in ways they could not have imagined – helping to not only whip up fears of Islamic radicalism but also to fuel the deepening “culture war.” The 25-year-old former Orange County resident had a...

IBBLE, Okla. -- Some "goats gone wild" are the talk of a small Oklahoma town. A woman received two tickets after her goats were caught mating and relieving themselves on her own yard. City law said it is illegal for any two animals to have sex in public within Dibble city limits. It's also against law for them to relieve themselves in public even if the animal is fenced in on private land. The owner was shocked when she heard the charges. “I kind of thought if anyone was caught having sex in public, it could have been me,” Carol...

Nepal's state-run airline has confirmed that it sacrificed two goats to appease a Hindu god, following technical problems with one of its aircraft. Nepal Airlines said the animals were slaughtered in front of the plane - a Boeing 757 - at Kathmandu airport. The offering was made to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu god of sky protection, whose symbol is seen on the company's planes. The airline said that after Sunday's ceremony the plane successfully completed a flight to Hong Kong. "The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," senior airline official Raju...

Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god Tue 4 Sep 2007, 13:37 GMT   KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said. "The snag in the plane...

My readers are well-read folks. So, y’all know that there really was a streetcar named Desire that ran to a down-at-the-heels neighborhood in New Orleans, where Tennessee Williams’ set his play. So, even though most streetcars have, alas, done the way of the Dodo, you might have surmised that Goats on the Roof is real. Ding. Ding. Ding. No more calls, please. There IS a place called Goats on the Roof. At the time that “Flashdance” came out, with it came a phrase, “high concept.” What that meant was the whole idea – remember charades, when you’d make a global...

SAN RAFAEL -- Two hundred and forty-three goats were crushed to death this morning after the livestock truck they were riding in flipped while making a tight turn in San Rafael, authorities said. The goats, part of a herd used for vegetation management, died inside the four-tier truck trailer after it collapsed around 8:45 a.m. on Kerner Boulevard at Irene Street. The cause of the crash was being investigated. The 62-year-old truck driver and a passenger were not injured. The goats were the property of Goats R Us, an Orinda company that rents out the herd to public and private...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Summer is settling onto Missionary Ridge overlooking this southeast Tennessee city. Swallows glide on the warm breeze rustling the hackberry trees, kudzu vines sprout along the hillside and the goats are back at work. Chattanooga’s goats have become unofficial city mascots since the Public Works Department decided last year to let them roam a city-owned section of the ridge to nibble the kudzu, the fast-growing vine that throttles the Southern landscape. The Missionary Ridge goats and the project’s tragicomic turns have created headlines, inspired a folk ballad and invoked more than their share of goat-themed chuckles. “Usually,...

Authorities visited the home of three men allegedly involved in a plot to attack Fort Dix numerous times over complaints ranging from loud parties to farm animals on the property, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday. According to the newspaper, police and Cherry Hill township officials visited the Duka home in the Philadelphia suburbs on at least ten occasions over a seven year period before the men were eventually arrested in the terrorism plot. The Duka brothers - Dritan, Eljvir and Shain - are accused, along with Serdar Tatar, and Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer of conspiring to kill military personnel at the...

BUCHAREST: Jobless Romanians are to be given goats instead of welfare benefits as part of a scheme to make them contribute more to the economy. Under the pilot project, welfare benefits are to be axed from September in the Independenta district, a collection of villages in south-eastern Romania, where unemployed families will instead each receive 10 goats. They will be expected to sell milk and cheese to earn an income, and when they find work, they will have to return the goats to the council. "We have 30 families that are on benefits, and just paying them cash does not...

Dateline 06 December 2006 As we turn our attention to buying presents for friends and relatives the age-old problem arises. Everyone except John Kerry’s wife knows at least one person who is richer than they are. How do you buy a present for someone who has everything they might want, except for a handful of things that are out of your price range? The answer is simple: buy them a goat. I am guessing here, but probably your friend does not have a goat already, but if so, buy them another. You can never have too many goats. I should...

MAHOPAC — A man broke into a barn on Thanksgiving morning, spray-painted three pet goats and scattered pages of pornographic magazines on the floor, apparently to harass the property owner, police said yesterday. Drew Gagnon, 37, of Mahopac, was arrested the next day and was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and animal cruelty, said Lt. Brian Karst, of the Carmel police force, which covers Mahopac. "Obviously it's not an occurrence you see every day," Mr. Karst said. Gail Fiero, owner of the property on Croton Falls Road, about 50 miles north of midtown Manhattan, said of the goats, "They're our...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - Neighborhood dogs attacked goats used by the city to graze on fast-growing kudzu, killing two and critically injuring another, officials said. "Two goats were killed, and we took one to a vet," said Teresa Grainger, director of the city's animal services. "We impounded three dogs and found the owners through a license tag." Two nearby residents were cited for having potentially dangerous dogs. A resident reported that the dogs were attacking the goats on Tuesday afternoon. The goats were contracted in September from Maurice Beavers of Lakesite to graze on the invasive species that is growing...

Goats Key to Spread of Farming, Gene Study Suggests James Owen for National Geographic News October 10, 2006 Goats accompanied the earliest farmers into Europe some 7,500 years ago, helping to revolutionize Stone Age society, a new study suggests. The trailblazing farm animals were hardy and highly mobile traveling companions to ancient pioneers from the Middle East who introduced agriculture to Europe and elsewhere, researchers say. The onset of farming ushered in the so-called Neolithic Revolution, when settled communities gradually replaced nomadic tribes and their hunter-gatherer lifestyles between 8000 and 6000 B.C. A team of archaeologists and biologists has traced...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Swiss driver caught speeding in Canada explained that he had been taking advantage of the ability to drive fast without hitting a goat, police said on Wednesday. The driver was caught traveling 161 km/hr (100 mph) in a 100 km/hr zone in eastern Ontario Sunday. "A motorist from Switzerland, used to driving around hills and mountains, takes advantage of the ability to go faster without risking hitting a goat," read the traffic officer's notes of the incident. Local police said it was the first time they had ever heard of such an excuse. "I've never been...

It's hard to get them out of my head. Here's the story if you missed it: Iraqi Islamists are threatening shepherds with violence if they don't clothe their goats with diapers to avoid tempting lonely shepherds. Another facet of the "new Middle East." Yes, it's funny. But it's also revealing about the way fundamentalism and sex interact. What most male-run religious fundamentalisms include is a major exception for the hetero-male sex drive. Sex outside of missionary-position reproduction with legal wife/wives is officially verboten; but when frail male flesh gives in, the blame is almost always the object of desire -...

From Private William “Billy” Windsor (serial no 25232301), First Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, Cyprus. Sir, When the story broke last week in some papers that I had been demoted from lance corporal to private because of my apparently lower-than-average marching skills, commentators seemed to think that this was in some way funny. Presumably because I am a goat. Reporting the case, in which I was busted down to private after repeatedly veering off line while marching at a parade for the Queen’s 80th birthday in Cyprus, The Sun newspaper (presumably surprised to learn that regimental animals have ranks) was moved...

Scientists have created goats with human genetic characteristics after injecting the animal embryos with stem cells.   The blood and internal organs of the 39 goats have a similar DNA make-up to human ones.   The animals, which look no different from normal goats, are being reared on an experimental farm in a China.   This is not as controversial as taking stem cells from human embryos A team led by Prof Huang Shuzheng, of Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, spent five years transplanting stem cells from human umbilical cords into goat embryos.   Their research confirmed that stem cells – unspecialised cells...

Suherdjoko and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Magelang, Boyolali With Mt. Merapi spewing ash overnight, residents of three districts close to the Central Java volcano prepared Wednesday morning to evacuate. Nurjahid, a resident of Srumbung in the town of Magelang, one of the three districts along with Dukun and Sawangan, said residents were getting ready and increasing the frequency of patrols. "When we hear a gong repeatedly sound, we will run to safety," he said. Many residents have moved their belongings and livestock to safer places. Gito, 30, took his seven goats from Ngablak to another village some five kilometers...

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A tiger's roar might be scary, but Australian researchers have found that the predator's poo is just as potent. Researchers at the University of Queensland said Friday they had successfully tested a tiger poo repellant, warding off wild goats for at least three days. "Goats wouldn't have seen a tiger from an evolutionary point of view for at least 15 generations but they recognize the smell of the predator," repellent creator Peter Murray said in a statement. "If we can show this lasts weeks ... we've just tapped into probably a billion-dollar market. It's enormous," he said....

Best known the world over for the group that bears his name, Carlos Santana has been reinventing and reshaping the landscape of the known universe's musical culture for close to four decades. Multiple Grammy award-winning Santana moves beyond his infectious rhythms of Latin, R&B, and jazz musical creations - to bring you his newest creations - fragrance.

LAKEPORT -- What animals are considered pets in Lake County? Apparently, there's no specific definition at present, at least not in county zoning documents. District 3 Supervisor Gary Lewis brought before the Board of Supervisors Tuesday a discussion about amending the Lake County zoning ordinance so it would include goats in the definition of domestic pets. This would allow residents to keep goats as pets on property zoned as single family residential, or R1. District 3 Supervisor Gary Lewis is asking the board to amend the zoning ordinance so that goats can be considered domestic pets. If that happens, goats...

Oh, No ! More Animals in the News !! London: Researchers from Emory University of Texas, and The University of Louisiana have made a careful study of two separate groups of chimpanzees – in an effort to determine whether the primates have any “altruistic impulses”. Both groups noted ,when chimps are provided with treats, they are not the least bit inclined to share them with other chimps – despite clearly identifiable “begging gestures” by their less fortunate counterparts. ( Oddly enough,the same behavior has been observed in self-described liberals – who tend to contribute far less to the needy than...

SARPY COUNTY, Neb. -- Last week, two goats were found strangled, drained of blood, then positioned inside their pen. The Nebraska Humane Society's initial analysis was that the killings may have been performed by a cult, Omaha television station KETV reported. Investigators said this week that they need new leads in the killings. The goats' owners were devastated by the deaths. They said the goats were family pets. Beth Roth said her four daughters played with the goats nearly every day for the year that they'd been caring for them. Last year, they even posed the goats for the family's...

BATON ROUGE, La.-- State and federal agencies, along with numerous non-profit organizations, are united in an ongoing effort to save the pets and animals left helpless by Hurricane Katrina. "This is the largest animal rescue in the history of the United States ... absolutely unprecedented in scope," said Larry Hawkins, spokesperson for the Unified Incident Command for Animal Rescue in Louisiana . "We have a huge number of people working on this and it's a big success." Rescuers wade or boat through the flooded city in a house to house search for stranded animals. This joint effort includes the Louisiana...

<p>The CIA yesterday concluded that two truck trailers seized by coalition forces in northern Iraq were designed by Saddam Hussein's regime to produce biological weapons agents.</p> <p>A six-page agency white paper said an examination of the trailers' equipment showed that "BW [biological weapons] agent production is the only consistent, logical purpose for these vehicles."</p>

NAIROBI (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton, who was visiting Kenya, will probably never hear about it but he's being offered 20 head of cattle and 40 goats for the hand of his daughter in marriage. The 36-year-old bachelor, Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor, has waited five years after writing to the president and vows to remain unmarried until he gets an answer. "I am ready to wait for as long as I can," said Cheprkurgor, who is a municipal councillor in Kenya's Rift Valler town of Nakuru. Chepkurgor's initial efforts to reach Clinton during his visit to Uganda in 2000...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Goats grazing on 12 acres of brush at San Pedro's Peck Park Canyon for the past two weeks should have the wildfire danger eliminated this week. "The goats were happy, the city was happy and the park looks beautiful. We look forward to welcoming them back," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. The city's pilot program brought in 143 goats on June 28 to clear away the brush. Oregon-based Nanny & Billy's Vegetative Management was paid $11,500 to clear the park's Hernandez Ranch area in advance of the wildfire season. "Basically, the department likes the goat idea," area...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Move over Smokey the Bear. In California, thousands of goats are helping prevent wildfires. From hilly San Francisco to more rural settings, California landowners, business and officials have hired the voracious animals to devour the grass and brush that fuels wildfires. Last year, more than 5,500 fires blackened over 168,000 acres in the most populous U.S. state. "Goats are just another tool in the toolbox for California and we try to use as many tools as possible," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Michael Jarvis said in an interview last week. Goats are munching...

Judy Brown Regional Editor REEDSVILLE - Boer goats, bred for meat, hardly resemble dairy goats, says Christine Kocourek of Floppy Ear Farm. Ms. Kocourek and her husband, Keith Schroeder, who own a 10-acre farm in Manitowoc County, are securing more land for an expanding meat goat business built around Boers. The animals grow quickly to 80 pounds, and then are butchered at up to 10 months old. Unlike their dairy goat relatives, Boer goats are solid meat animals with bucks weighing 200 to 300 pounds. "They gain weight real fast compared to dairy goats," Ms. Kocourek said. She said Boers...

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KROMDRAAI, South Africa (Reuters) - A pair of orphans have formed an unlikely bond on a South African game park although horns and a love for horse pellets are about the only things they have in common. Clover is an 11-month old female rhino calf who was orphaned in the wild when her mother was slain by poachers. Her constant companion these days is Bok-Bok, a young goat who was also lonely and abandoned. Improbably, the two made a perfect match and have become inseparable companions at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve about 30 km (18 miles) northwest of...

JAKARTA (AP): President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday called on Indonesians not to be superstitious about the series of earthquakes hitting the country, saying such disasters could be explained scientifically. Speaking to participants of a national meeting of the Family Welfare Movement at the State Palace, Yudhoyono said he had received many text messages on his phone requesting him to slaughter at least 1,000 goats as an offering to prevent more natural disasters. "If I met this extraordinary and unique request, then I would have no time to visit disaster-hit areas across the country or control emergency requests," Yudhoyono said....