Piper Wood first met Clementine the goat when she was hiding inside a small concrete kennel recovering from leg surgery.
Clementine was a timid 4-month-old goat and Wood’s heart melted the second she laid eyes on her.
Wood knew she had to do everything she could to help the defenseless goat young goat rehabilitate.
“She was so depressed in the kennel,” said Wood, founder of Hand in Paw, a rescue organization in Los Angeles. “She was there for two days, and she was crying all the time.”
She first heard about the young goat from the manager of Duarte Azusa Animal Hospital after someone brought her into the clinic with a broken leg.
Clementine’s former owner received her as a gift and although she wanted to keep her she simply had no room in her apartment so they decided to keep her in the auto body shop her boyfriend worked in. It was here where she subsequently broke her leg.
“She was jumping around, and she got her leg caught in something and got a really bad fracture in her back leg,” Wood said. “Her back leg just snapped.”
“There were car parts and metal everywhere,” Wood said. “There was no grass. It was just a really horrible place for a goat.”
She had also been ‘dehorned’ which is an extremely painful experience for the goat where a hot iron is placed against the goat’s horns to stop them from ever growing.
A worker from the auto shop took Clementine to the vet clinic.
“She couldn’t use her leg at all,” said Donna Menzemer, the manager at Duarte Azusa Animal Hospital. “She had to have some mild sedation and X-rays and get a splint. Then she had to have days of antibiotic injections and oral antibiotics as well.”
The bill turned out to be in excess of $500. The owners refused to pay and asked for her back, however, luckily due to regulations they were not able to give her back without payment. The owners then had 14 days to pay the bill before she was to be handed over to the Department of Animal Services. They never showed.
“She loved people, so she was crying because she wanted us all the time,” Menzemer said. “I felt so bad for her.”
Wood visited Clementine and decided she would keep Clementine on her acreage with her 15 rescue dogs and give her a forever home.
As soon as Clementine arrived at her new home her mood shifted instantly and she seemed much happier.
“She instantly bonded with all of my dogs,” Wood said. “She absolutely loved the grass, and was running around – she had a cast on, so she was hobbling. She sleeps in the dogs’ beds. She shares bowls with them. She’s just become a total part of the pack.”
“She loves to wrestle with the dogs,” Wood added. “She particularly loves our poodle, Stewart. They butt heads together all the time.”
“This is like every Christmas wish come true,” Wood said. “I’ve been talking about getting a goat all my life, and the moment I got that call, I dropped everything to go see her, and I just knew she was the right one, but I never thought it would be a reality.”
Unfortunately, Clementine hasn’t made a smooth recovery. Her leg may still need steel plates put in as the bones haven’t set correctly – but no matter what happens from here, she’ll have a loving mom by her side the whole way.
“She’s part of the family now,” Wood said. “I just love her.”
To help Hand in Paw rescue more animals like Clementine, make a donation here.
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source: The Dodo, Hand in Paw
