These Rescued Goats Will Make You Melt

Goats are incredibly awesome animals. These intelligent creatures are playful, quirky, and tons of fun. Let’s just say they’re cool “kids.”

And despite being subjected to horrible abuse for meat, dairy, and even cashmere — these special animals are just as intelligent as dogs — and just as able to form strong emotional friendships with human beings.

So for your viewing pleasure, and today’s cuteness quotient!, here are four rescued goats who’ll make your heart melt:

Toast
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New Jersey’s Rancho Relaxo has become pretty famous these days thanks to animal guardian Caitlin Cimini and her Instagram realness — and hilarity. She shows the world what it’s like to be an animal rescuer, the good, the sad, and the utterly amusing. Toast was found frozen to the ground just after being born. Initially, he was paralyzed from the neck down, and the farmer actually put him in the oven in an attempt to warm him up. After being rescued by Caitlin, he spent a month in the hospital, made a full recovery, and these days he runs, jumps, and bounces around with his many goat siblings!

Madeline
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Madeline arrived at Oregon’s Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in horrible shape: skinny, infested with lice, and with a life-threatening case of black mastitis (mastitis, painful udder inflammation, also often affects dairy cows). Madeline was going to be killed because her previous humans didn’t want to pay to care for her, so Lighthouse took her in. She underwent a double mastectomy and spent 3 weeks in critical care at Oregon State University Large Animal Hospital. Once not expected to make it, she’s now a happy, healthy goat, and according to her caregivers, a complete joy to spend time with!

Moby and Jackie
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New York’s Woodstock Sanctuary is home to an array of goat residents, but Moby and Jackie are particularly special. Ruby the goat came from a horrible backyard butcher situation, and was already pregnant when she was saved. She gave birth to Moby (named after the musician and animal rights activist) and Jackie (named after the late Jack, another beloved goat). Jackie was half Moby’s weight when she first emerged, but she’s grown into a healthy, happy girl! These days, the two siblings are inseparable.

Evie
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Evie, an adorable Nigerian Dwarf goat, was scheduled to have her leg amputated when a fracture couldn’t be repaired. Her “owners” were planning to shoot her, but the veterinarian didn’t want little Evie to die, so they called Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary. Now, despite missing a leg, Evie runs and jumps and explores with all her goat friends, and is living her happily ever after. According to her caregivers, she particularly loves to be held and petted and eat grapes and vegan gummy bears.

Dougie
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Dougie was the second blind baby goat addition to Georgia’s Full Circle Farm Sanctuary. He was rescued from an auction house, where a good samaritan was able to save him from a would-be buyer who planned on eating Dougie! Thankfully, Dougie has found love, kindness, and care at Full Circle, where he’ll live out the rest of his days.

Featured photo above: Rancho Relaxo