Relief as baby goats stolen from Lancashire farm are reunited with farmer after being found dumped at Formby roadside

The two goats are thought to have been lucky to have survived the ordeal after they were snatched from their mother at a small holding farm in Burscough last Friday, February 12.

After a frantic search along with the Ormskirk and Rural West Lancashire rural police team, the two babies were finally rescued after being found dumped at a roadside 16 miles way from the farm.

Farmer Matthew Tomlinson said the mother had been left "screaming" after the two goats were taken because the babies are still currently feeding on her milk.

In a happy ending, the two goats were discovered and returned to their mum through the power of social media.

Matthew said: "I came down on the Friday morning and noticed that the goats were all screaming. I knew instantly that something wasn't right. When I did a headcount I saw that two of them were missing.

"We walked round the barn, behind the barn and all through the fields and couldn't see them so I knew they had been stolen. They are only small and can easily be taken away in a car.

"We quickly got the message out on social media with the help of the police and we made sure we covered every base by ringing every farm nearby to see if anyone had tried to sell the goats.

"When they were found, they were just dumped at the side of the road. Anything could have happened to them and I suspected we wouldn't see them again because they wouldn't survive without feeding on their mother."

In a post that was shared more than 4,000 times, farmer Matthew was offering a cash reward for anyone who knew about the whereabouts of the goats.

Matthew's close friend Emma Gornall, from Leyland, was also on hand to help track down the whereabouts of the animals.

She said: "We spent until 9.30 on Friday night looking for the goats and went back out again on Saturday morning to try and find them.

"We then started to get messages from people on social media telling us that a man was trying to sell off two baby goats. Then we got a call to say they had been found left abandoned on the side of the road all the way in Formby.

"We think that whoever had stolen them had realised that the word was getting out fast and just left them on the roadside. It shows the power of social media because there were shares from up and down the country and now we have them back."

Ormskirk and Rural West Lancs Police shared the news of a happy reunion to Facebook yesterday.

A spokesperson said: "Thanks to a huge effort by the local communities, their owners and the Ormskirk-Based Rural Officers, these goats have been found and returned to their owners and mother who they desperately need to be with.

"This is a classic case of community power, as our amazing local communities have played a massive part in getting these goats home.

"Enquiries are still ongoing to bring the offender(s) to justice."

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