ARLINGTON — The goats are gone.
Eight months after 211 mangy, lice-ridden goats moved to Ellen Felsenthal’s farm near Arlington, they’ve left.
The goats moved in with Felsenthal after their elderly owner died, leaving them alone on her Skagit County farm. The county’s animal control officer intervened and placed them with Felsenthal, an Everett Community College photography instructor and foster parent to goats.
She named the goats, cleaned their hooves and injected them with antibiotics.
Most of the goats have left Felsenthal for greener, quieter pastures. Adoptive families looking for new pets or lawn trimmers took 177 of the goats.
Due to ongoing illness, 33 goats were euthanized, Felsenthal said. That’s in addition to the 40 goats euthanized shortly after the herd was discovered in Skagit County.
Felsenthal kept just one, Gertrude — a white and brown mixed-breed with floppy ears, wayward horns and a long beard. Gertrude fit in well with Felsenthal’s 10 permanent goats. She roamed the fields around Felsenthal’s home for 3 1/2 weeks before dying recently of old age.
Now Felsenthal is looking toward the goats of the future. She’s inviting volunteers to her farm this weekend to help repair fences and rebuild shelters damaged by the Skagit County goats. She wants her farm to be ready when another goat emergency pops up.
The work party is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday at her farm, 19111 Burn Road.
Karen Drake plans to spend her weekend mending fences with Felsenthal.
Drake, a neighbor who adopted two goats, Plume and Claire, is impressed by all Felsenthal did for the orphan goats.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “None of us had any hope that she could have them all adopted out in six months.”
Felsenthal said she occasionally misses a few of the goats who consumed her life last December, but she’s confident they’re in good homes, leading better lives now.
“It was totally overwhelming and wonderful,” she said. “When I think back on it now, I can’t believe I did it, that it was successful. It was probably a really foolish thing to do — to try to take in those animals on my own, but so many people helped and the animals themselves gave me so much positive energy. It feels really good to know that it worked. We saved (around) 180 lives.”
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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