The Lil’ Wild Goat

Lil’ Wild Goat

Before coming to New York with my family in 1984, I lived in a countryside barrio (village) in Puerto Rico. My parents were not only raising six (6) children, they also raised a few different kinds of domestic and "farm animals". Among these was once a "heard" of goats, which were mostly my responsibility to care for.

Now in m y opinion, goats in general, can be as domesticated as mush as most cats can be, which means not ever enough... Like cats, they possess certain "agilities" and personalities that allow them to resist "domestication" to a great extent... But the art of "husbandry" (keeping animals in captivity) is quite ancient and many effective methods of maintaining and domesticating goats are implemented.

If raised in domestication from the time they are very young, most goats can be fairly tamed and conditioned to exist for the benefit of their keepers. Handling them as kids (that's what the word "kid" means: "little goat") and especially if you "hand feed" them. I found that frosted flakes were very effective treats to "hook" the goats to your will.

BUT!!!... every once in a while, …when the female goats give birth, you get this "lil' wild goat"... a kid who refuses to completely give up it's inherent "wildness, and rejects all "bribes" and methods of subjugation imposed on its free will. They are almost always the most agile, the fastest, the ones that jump highest and bump heads the hardest... they are just "wild"! And they will keep their distance from humans, never allowing themselves to be handled or even touched willingly.

These lil’ wild goats are “born leaders”, from the moment they arrive they “lead” or “inspire” the rest of the “heard” to follow their lead and incites the deepest “wildness” from all of the goats. While they refuse to eat even “frosted flakes” from their keeper’s hands, they always find the greenest pasture, the coolest water, the best shade, etc…

And when they realize that these are on the other side of the fence, they get past it… they find the lowest point on the fence and jump over it, or they find a gap between the sheets of metal placed to hold them, or find a gap under some barbed wire… but they always somehow find their way to the “other side”!

Initially, especially while still attached to their mothers, they go back and forth from the penned enclosure to the freedom of the “other side of the fence”. And really don’t seem as concerned with the others as the others are of them. The others always seem to observe closely what these “lil’ goats” do at all times… and once they “see” their inherent wildness and desire for freedom expressed in them, they usually follow their lead.

And this is when these lil’ wild goats become a “problem” for their keepers. I spent many unpleasant hours chasing escaped goats through hillsides, creeks, and precipices. It took capturing the lil’ wild goat renegade leader insurgent and dragging it back to the pen… the rest of the goats usually followed behind on their own. To make my job easier, as soon as I recognized the “lil’ wild goat”, I identified it for my father (who almost certainly already had an idea which one it was)… From then on, the lil’ wild goat was sure to end up in a pot for a family gathering at the hands of my pops and his brothers. From experience with these lil’ wild goats, I had learned to recognize them as soon as they were born, and to me, honestly, they were all the same “lil’ wild goat”.