There was a rather unusual shopper in Petrolia during the annual yard sale.
Shanan Bowen and her daughter, Kate, were heading home after helping the Lambton Young Theatre Players with a yard sale on Howlett Lane when they noticed something standing in the middle of Petrolia Line.
“There was a goat in the middle of the road between Home Hardware and Coffee Lodge,” she tells The Independent.
“It was just standing there in the middle of the road looking at the traffic.”
The goat made its way to the plaza, peaked into the physiotherapy office, walked past M&M’s and head butted the windows at Coffee Lodge and then jumped into its patio area.
“Being from a farming community, I didn’t really think it was so unusual; we do see deer in the country,” Bowen says.
“I was  thrown by the fact it was in the middle of the road and it seemed funny.”
Bowen got out her phone and took some photos.
They aren’t as good as she would like but she didn’t want to get too close. “I was worried someone was going to be head butted because they’re pretty destructive critters.”
Bowen isn’t sure what happened to the goat. “There were people trying to catch him but he was that tricky – he is a wily guy.”
Bowen did learn a little bit about its history after posting the photos online.
A woman from Watford was one of the people who saw the pictures on Facebook and wrote it had been her goat.
“We brought him home being told that he wouldn’t jump our fence and he did,” wrote the Watford woman.
“So, we built a fence that was eight-feet tall and he then again jumped it.
We found a new home for him in Forest.”
How the goat made it to Petrolia is unclear but Bowen says since posting the photos – which have been shared over 200 times – she’s heard the animal has been spotted in Petrolia before by school children.
Shortly after the sighting, the Town of Petrolia posted its animal control bylaw on Facebook saying some animals are categorized as livestock and are not permitted in some areas.
“Please be sure that before welcoming any domestic, exotic or livestock into your home, that you are familiar with these regulations.”