Winter in Florida with a surprise ending

[leslie]

How big was this goat? Dogs are natural predators for goats. I suspect this goat was sick, or it wouldn't be charging a predator. A small dog, I could see it chsrging that. But dalmations aren't small.

[vmcmn]

Bears, giant alligators, huge rodents, wild hogs, long snakes... If I took you guys seriously, I would never venture out of doors again, much less go camping!!!

Being a rare breed myself here in Fl.(a native Floridian) none of these bother me,in fact they can be good eatin'. BTW don't forget Sharks.

[dh50]

[quote timestamp="1460179132" author="@leslie" source="/post/20353/thread"]How big was this goat? [/quote][font face="comic sans ms" color="#2e19e6" size="3"]Bigger than the dog!  The screened panel through which the goat burst through is 5.5 foot wide.  To the best of our recollection, the screen torn by the goat's horns indicated horn span of approx. 2.5 ft., tip to tip, about 40% of the overall panel width.  Horns were spiraled up and out from each side.  Another takeaway from that night was the goat's stench. Really strong.  

BUT....the real question that needs to be asked is:  Are there really feral goats in Florida?  At the time of incident, our brief inquiry at local Ag Center came up with an uncertain 'uh, no, don't think so'.  Fast forward, we've given little thought to Billy's visit a few years back, but since sharing this story on LL forum, and your subsequent questions, have revisited the topic.  Looking into it now, still can't seem to find certain on-line confirmation of feral goats in Florida.  There is an aged post on FiringLine. com that states the following:  
[/font]
"We have an island in the St.Johns river that is rightfuly named "Goat Island"

The story is that a family lived there on the island and they populated it with goats, well the army core of engineers decided to split the island in two so the river could be dreged for the building of the Dames Point Bridge. The family left but the goats stayed. There are quite a few of them still on the island. I dont know if they can be considered feral or not, but they are there.
"

[font size="3" color="#2e19e6" face="comic sans ms"]We happen to live off the St. John's River, but far south from referenced point.  If anyone knows about feral goats in Florida, would enjoy learning more.  We know there was at least one.  He was a baa aaa aaad goat.[/font]
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[pinstriper]

1. Our little pygmy goat run around 80-90 #, and have all the power of a similar sized Rottweiler. Little buggers be STRONG.

2. You will find feral goats and pigs on many islands around the world. Explorers used to find an island, plot its location as best they could, and dump off a few animals so as there would be a food population some years in the future when the next ship came by.

3. This is not to say that dishes like Kahlua Pig and other such were only invented during what to Europeans was termed The Age Of Discovery. Turns out most of those dishes started with canibals, who were later convinced to cut that out by missionaries and other sorts, so they turned to goat and pork as reasonable substitutes for their favorite recipes.

[leslie]

The things we learn on this board! In addition to RVing!

[vmcmn]

Did I mention the wild monkeys around the Silver River ? LOL

[leslie]

Can the lions be far behind?

[dh50]

[quote source="/post/20457/thread" author="@leslie" timestamp="1460405599"]Can the lions be far behind?[/quote]Nope....in Florida, they're called Panthers: http://www.defenders.org/florida-panther/basic-facts