Volunteers Wade Into Floodwaters to Rescue 60 Working Goats

Picture this: baby goats bleating on a bike path while village managers and bridge workers scramble to save them from floodwaters. That's exactly what happened in Granville, Ohio this week when several inches of overnight rain turned a routine environmental project into an urgent animal rescue.

The village had hired a herd of 60 goats from Goats on the Go to munch through five acres of dense brush and poison ivy along Raccoon Creek. The furry cleanup crew was doing their job when Thursday morning brought flash flooding to Licking County.

"The goats were standing on logs and any little high place they could find to get away from the rising water," said Jenn Rubal, assistant village planner. By 8 a.m., the team knew they had to act fast.

Village Manager Herb Koehler, Assistant Village Manager Courtney Ruppert, and utilities workers Matt Robinette and Kevin Fry rushed to help. Construction workers from a nearby bridge project saw the commotion and joined in without hesitation.

Robinette and Fry put on waders and stepped into the rising creek to carry out the smallest goats. The babies cried from being wet and cold, and some of the adult goats followed the rescuers to higher ground on the TJ Evans bike path.

"I had never herded goats before," Rubal laughed. The whole operation required shutting off the electric fence that normally kept the herd contained and coordinating with Todd Cain, who manages the goats with his wife Lauren.

Sunny's Take

What makes this story shine isn't just the image of office workers suddenly turned goat herders. It's the instinct that kicked in when those workers saw animals in trouble.

Nobody had to ask the bridge construction crew to help. They just saw neighbors (albeit four-legged ones) in need and stepped up. That's the kind of community spirit that turns a village into a home.

The goats weren't just random animals either. They're part of Granville's environmental solution. The village is preparing to remove a dangerous low-head dam that creates deadly churning currents, and removing invasive species is required before the dam project can proceed.

By Friday morning, Raccoon Creek had receded to normal levels. The goats looked eager to leave the bike path and get back to their important work clearing poison ivy and invasive plants so the village can eventually promote safe recreational use of the creek.

Sometimes the best teamwork happens when nobody's thinking about being a hero.