Most grey nomads know that – when taking a bushwalk – they need to be aware of potential dangers such as snakes, heatstroke, and dehydration … but few are properly prepared for goat attacks.
But maybe they should be!
A man in his 60s suffered a nasty knee injury after being charged by a wild goat while bushwalking in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales.
Three ambulances responded to the incident near the Knapsack Viaduct at Glenbrook, earlier today. The injured man was taken to Nepean Hospital in a stable condition.
David Patterson from NSW Ambulance told the Weekly Times that paramedics attended quite a few jobs involving animals but responding to a goat attack was one of the ‘more bizarre’ call outs.
“These types of jobs can be quite challenging for paramedics and other emergency services, especially with the possibility of an angry animal lurking in the area,” he told the newspaper. “Paramedics need to be able to get to the patient quickly, but also have to ensure they are not putting themselves at risk.”
While goat attacks on people are not all that common, they do happen. In 2016, a 73-year-old man required hospital treatment after he was attacked by an aggressive horned goat on a rural property in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland.
And feral pigs can also cause issues. A few years ago, grey nomad Gwynnie Cahill stopped to pick up an eagle feather she had seen next to some roadkill near Katherine. She thought it would look good in her hat.
And that’s when things got interesting.
“I was standing there looking down when loud snorting, squealing and grunts alerted me to oncoming danger,” said Gwynnie. “I looked up quickly and saw two large wild pigs charging towards me at a rate of knots … they were obviously keen to clean up the roadkill they thought I was about to take from them.”
Gwynnie quickly snatched up the prized eagle feather before making a hasty retreat.
“With ‘wind beneath my wings’ I bolted back to the safety of my vehicle … and just in time,” she said. “I reckon I very narrowly missed becoming part of the early morning feast.
I used to take my mother-in-law into those dangerous areas and she’d give them the evil eye … that used to scare the bayjeezus out of them … and me!
I had a goat as a a pet, after the goat races here one year. They were wild goats, and I wanted the biggest horned goat they had. Cost me nothing initially, but I had to have him de-nutted, and ear tagged so about $20 on top I had never been involved with goats prior to being roped into the job , of goat handler that day. He was a good goat, and when ever he broke his rope, he would come do9wn to the back door, and sit up against it as he was lonely. He had never been alone before. Eventually, he cleaned up our block over a year, and I found him a home as a pet , with the owner of a few other goats. When I had him , we would play charges, whereby, I would get down lo0w, and put my hands up as horns and charge him, just as he would do to me. He never attack me out of spite though. I miss that big buck goat.