Let us keep Patrick!

We have 2 miniature goats as pets in a residential suburb of Melbourne. We have a permit for one of them, Pedro, who we have had for nearly 2 years. Our other boy, Patrick, was not purchased intentionally. We found him at 2 days old in a paddock near my work and his mother had abandoned him due to his being savagely attacked by a fox. He was distressed and in a lot of pain so we rescued him.

Our vet had him on antibiotics for 2 weeks as he had pneumonia and nasty wounds from the fox attack. After about 3 months of 6 time a day feeds and many a hot water bottle filled to keep him warm as well as lots of love and care we have hand reared him back to health and he has become part of our family and an important companion for Pedro.

We did the wrong thing and didn’t notify the council as firstly we didn’t know if he’d make it, and also we didn’t believe the council would understand our position and the seriousness of Patrick’s condition and make us re house him. Someone in the neighborhood has notified the council that we walk 2 goats in our area off a leash and this has prompted our local council to issue us with a notice to comply and remove Patrick within 2 weeks.