Death Butted as Killer Goat Gets Revenge, USA

Carl Hulsey, owner of a billy goat named Snowball, was insistent on turning him into a watchdog - whether Snowball liked it or not.  To accomplish his mission, the 77-year-old retired poultry worker from Canton, Georgia, took to beating Snowball with a stick to make him more 'fierce'.

"Pa, this goat's going to kill you if you keep that up," Alma Hulsey would warn her husband, and eventually he did.

On May 16, 1991, Hulsey once again approached the goat with stick in hand.  This time, Snowball was ready and landed the first blow.  The 110-pound goat attacked his harasser and tormentor by butting Husley in the stomach, twice, knocking him down.  Hulsey scrambled on the porch in an effort to get away with Snowball right behind, leaping up the steps after him.  Alma Hulsey watched as Snowball rammed his master over the edge, falling five feet below to his death.  "Blunt trauma to the abdominal cavity," said the coroner.  Snowball had ruptured Hulsey's stomach.

The slaying kicked up a public furor. Hulsey’s widow said she wanted to see Snowball in her freezer. She gave animal control officers permission to euthanize him. But the public clamor to save Snowball was much louder and eventually Noah's Ark Animal Rehabilitation Center rescued Snowball from execution, but not castration and dehorning.



Source:  The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.  "Goat Kills Cherokee Man Who Taught Him to be Mean." -  17 May 1991, p. E2