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GusGus, who had
been missing for some 20 hours, was reunited with his mom at the
state fairgrounds in Phoenix after an unidentified man dropped
him off at a pet store in the west of the city, officials said.
The man told staff at the shop he had been walking his dog by a
dry canal when he spotted the tiny goat.
"GusGus is fine. He was just hungry and was happy to see his
mom," said Sarah Kupelian, a petting zoo manager who picked him
up at the store and witnessed the reunion. "We're glad to have
our baby back."
Authorities had made a public plea for help in finding the goat,
who was with his mother when they believe he was snatched by
someone reaching over a low fence at the event's popular petting
zoo.
State troopers had searched for the little goat, who weighs no
more than 5 pounds (2.3 kg) and could have been hidden under the
thief's jacket, or even in a purse, officials said.
"He is accustomed to being touched, so he wouldn't scream his
little head off when someone picked him up," Karen Searle, the
fair's livestock director, said before GusGus' return.
Searle said the kid's mother, Custard, had been crying since
they were parted.
Officials had said they were concerned for his survival because
he was so young, small and needed his mother, and they had
promised no questions would be asked if he were given back.
"This is just incredible," Kupelian said. "We were all hoping
that we would get a happy ending, and we did."
(Reporting by David Schwartz; Editing by Daniel Wallis and
Sandra Maler)
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