Pick Me Up! – 30 May 2019

How

hadshe

made

it 25miles

fromher

home?

REAL LIFE

Lou Fields, 33, from Salford,

met a very unlikely commuter...

I

groaned as my partner

Emma nudged me awake.

It was a Sunday morning

in March – and squinting at

the clock, I saw it was 7am!

‘What’s going on?’

I croaked. But I had a feeling

I already knew.

Since October 2013, me

and Emma, 40, had run

Dogs4Rescue – a non-profit

business providing care,

socialisation and love to

rescued dogs – from our rural

home near Salford.

As the name suggests, it’d

started with dogs – but within

the year, we’d started taking

in cats, rabbits, hens, ferrets,

sheep, pigs, horses,

turkeys...any animal that

needed help!

Though we tried to

find new homes for the

animals we rescued, some

stayed with us.

We were like a big

farm family!

So when Emma woke

me up that morning,

I guessed we’d been

contacted about another

critter in need.

‘I’ve had a message

through Facebook,’ she

said. ‘A goat’s been spotted at

a tram stop.’

I looked at her in disbelief,

wondering if we were the butt

of some joke.

‘Is it with anyone?’ I asked.

‘Billy No-Mates,’

Emma grinned.

WORDS: JAMES HANMAN, CHARLOTTE NISBET. PHOTOS:She explained that the goat

FACEBOOK @DOGS 4 RESCUE, CATERS NEWS AGENCY

was standing there, surrounded

by bemused travellers.

‘I’d better get there before

the tram,’ I said, hurrying

to get dressed.

While Emma handled the

technical side of Dogs4Rescue,

I dealt with the practical, so it

fell to me to go goat rescuing.

I drove to Sale Water Park

tram stop, where I saw the cute

white and brown goat waiting

patiently on the platform.

‘Bleating heck,’ I thought,

getting out of the car. ‘They

weren’t kid-ding!’

The early-morning travellers

around her looked more

interested in their phones,

didn’t pay her much attention.

Shame. She was a friendly

girl, let me stroke her when

I approached.

She didn’t seem

distressed, either, as

if waiting for a tram

was udderly normal

for her!

‘I would’ve

thought you’d be

more interested

in rams than trams! ‘

I joked.

I put a lead on her

and tried to guide

her to my car but she had other

ideas and resisted, trying to get

back to the platform.

The idea of getting a tram

to Manchester was clearly

floating her goat!

Eventually I enticed her, took

her home, where Emma had

some water and hay waiting.

We took photos of the

gorgeous goat and shared

them on social media.

‘She must have broken loose

from a nearby farm,’ I mused.

‘She’s an e-scape-goat!’

laughed Emma.

After 30 minutes, a lady

messaged Emma

on Facebook.

You’ve found

my goat! it read.

It was from

a lady who had a

smallholding in

Saddleworth who’d

reported her pygmy

goat Belle missing

five days earlier.

Looking at the

photos, it was definitely her.

When Belle’s owner Julie

arrived 90 minutes later, she

burst into tears of joy when

she saw her animal.

‘I thought she was a goner!’

she smiled.

But how had Belle made it

25 miles away from her home?

She explained that when

Belle had gone missing five

days before, she’d found

the gate open and her

fence looked like it had

been tampered with.

We had no idea if she’d

been stolen, or made the

journey herself, but Julie

was so happy to have

Belle back.

I’ve rescued lots of

beasts, but none have

made me gruff-aw

like Belle!

For more info, visit

dogs4rescue.co.uk

Me and

beautiful

Belle!

Goat-ya! Owner

Julie’s not letting

her get away

Wonder if she’ll

get a kid’s ticket?