Baby goat returned to petting zoo at Ozark Empire Fair, no charges filed

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Ever heard of a ‘Wild Goat Chase’?

Workers at Hedricks Petting Zoo at the Ozark Empire Fair were left scrambling Tuesday night when witnesses informed staff of a theft.

“We had already closed down and I was getting ready to head home and somebody said they [saw someone] steal a baby goat, I didn’t see anything,” Dakota McCarty said. “They said somebody ran out with a baby goat. We didn’t know anything about them, didn’t know if they were going to bring it back. We got to talk to the police, talked to the security around here, and they said they’d do what they could to figure it out.

Springfield Police took over the investigation.

“Last night, around 10:30 p.m., a teenage female took a baby goat, who is about five days old, from the petting zoo at the fairground, put it under her shirt and left the gate,” Spokesperson Cris Swaters said. “We did not locate her at the time this morning, we put out a call for any information to have that goat returned, because if that goat was separated from its mother for too long, that goat would die.”

That led to a social media frenzy with many on Facebook and X, formerly known as ‘Twitter’ pleading for whoever took the baby goat, to return it.

Less than an hour after that post, SPD confirmed to OzarksFirst that the goat had been returned.

“The people that brought it back and they were really apologetic. They didn’t say they did it, but they were very apologetic and very, very sorry that they did it and seemed very genuine about it,” McCarty said. “The young goat, you know, it’s got to be with its mother and it needs to it needs the milk and they took care of it while they had it. He’s back with his mother this morning and it’s really good. We’re glad that we got him back so and [the baby and mom] were really happy to see each other.

As for the teen, no charges will be filed with the goat’s return.

“We’re just happy to have the goat back now. I don’t think the owners are going to press charges. They’re just glad we got her back with his mama,” McCarty said.

McCarty’s been in the petting zoo business for over a decade. This was a first.

“This is the first of its kind. You know, we’ve got a lot of people come in and they’ll pet a baby, get over the bars and pet a baby goat or pick one up, but never had one stolen,” McCarty said.

He says the mother of the goat was also nervous too, but was relieved when her baby was returned.

“When I sat him down, they both talked to each other a little bit and he went right to nurse, so they was back on good terms,” McCarty said. She was probably worried about it, just like any mom would be for her kid, but the good thing was it was taken care of while it was away from mom and it wasn’t gone for very long.”

McCarty says for the remainder of the fair, they’ll have more eyes on the pens when they close up.

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