Forever Pad Found for Cute North Carolina Dog and Goat Besties!
Cinnamon the goat, and Felix the dog make a cute but unlikely pair of pals, as 6ABC Philadelphia reports. These inseparable buddies hit the headlines recently, because their owner had to leave them in the care of an animal shelter due to illness. Their new host, the Wake County Animal Center in North Carolina, meanwhile, now faced the challenging task of rehoming this unusual but especially bonded duo.
A friendship too precious to end
As the shelter’s director, Dr. Jennifer Federico, explains of the friends who play, eat and sleep together: “It is not at all what people would expect to see in the playpen of the Wake County Animal Shelter; a goat and dog running around chasing each other…that’s not a normal combination.”
On Wake County’s website, Federico highlights that goats and dogs are both social animals. She also reveals that “In many cases of interspecies friendships, the species are not normally seen together, and sometimes, one is of a species that ordinarily preys on the other in nature – whatever the reason for these two bonding, it’s clear what would be best for their well-being is to keep them together.”
The goat in particular, she shares with 6abc Philadelphia, is extremely attached to the dog, and “will whine and cry whenever the dog is taken away.” It is clear to staff, especially as the goat is housetrained, that they’ve been raised together.
Federico additionally tells Southern Living that while at first, staff had placed Cinnamon and Felix in separate enclosures, Cinnamon’s frantic bleating made it clear that this was a mistake, and the pair were reunited in a shared holding pen.
This bond is why their compassionate animal carers made it a priority to rehome them together, and turned down offers from people wanting to rehome Cinnamon alone.
For shelter staff, social media seemed the obvious place in which to spread the word about the search for a home for this odd couple who needed to be adopted together. The shelter posted on its Facebook page, and as Fox5 reported, a photo of the duo was shared by community members and animal lovers until an animal rescue in New York joined in to help out with the search as well.
Settling into their best lives on a farm
As the ABC video shares, the pair’s harmonious life will continue as a rescue in New York will pay for their lifelong healthcare. The duo will also be able to stay in the state, as they’ve been found a home on a farm in Johnston County.
In an update, the Wake County’s website also reveals that this “forever foster family” has plenty of space for dogs, already owning several, and even has a small herd of goats that could also be friends for Cinnamon who is thought to be one to three years old.
“We are so blessed to be able to foster Felix and Cinnamon!” says Jacqui Bankes, the pair’s new owner. “As their forever foster, we are excited to keep them together and also integrate them with our other goats and dogs, after appropriate testing and quarantine.”
