Goat in Bathroom is Better Than Bear Raiding the Fridge

A Cleveland, Ohio family dealt with an unusual intruder recently. The Associated Press reports that a goat escaped from a nearly farm, butted its way through a glass door and settled in for a nap in Jennifer Keathley's bathroom. Unfortunately, the animal did most of its business throughout the house and not in the bathroom.

Quite a few years ago my mother-in-law came home to her cabin in the woods in the mountains of southern Colorado to discover that a bear had pushed its way through a door, opened the fridge, and chowed down. It also knocked over a paint bucket and tracked that throughout the house. Thankfully for her, the bear did not remain in the house. Though quite a mess was left behind.

In the case of the wayward goat, it was pretty stubborn in holing up in the family bathroom. Ashland County Ohio Sheriff Deputies eventually were able to physically drag the billy goat out of the house after carrots didn't work to bribe the animal out on its own.

Keathley found out her home owners' insurance policy did not cover goats in the house. Though, somewhat ironically for this piece, it would have covered bear or deer damage.

I don't know if my mother-in-law's insurance policy took care of the damage, but bear encounters for our family have been frequent on our family vacations to Colorado. My brother and sister-in-law had their van window smashed as a bear smelled food inside it. We woke up early one morning to the sound of a bear bouncing around an empty cooler. Apparently there was still some food smell in it.

We have had bears go walking past us while doing yard work and not realizing it until the animal was a few yards away. Years ago members of our extended family would bait bears by putting food out by the garbage cans. While it might have been tempting to watch the bears from the deck above, it was not very smart and the practice ended years ago.