MA Euthanizes Beloved Goats Belonging To Lowell Woman

TEWKSBURY, MA — A Lowell woman is mourning the loss of her three pet goats after losing her battle against the state to keep them alive. According to The Lowell Sun, last week, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources carried out an order to euthanize the goats.

A department spokesperson told the newspaper that a state veterinarian and local police seized the goats from Oliveira Farm in Tewksbury on Aug. 19. The goats were then “humanely euthanized and their remains properly and safely disposed of," a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the goats' owner, Vilmaria Maldonado, is full of emotions that range from sadness to anger.

“These goats I nurtured and I raised,” Maldonado told the newspaper. “Baby goats are called kids, and I understand why now. They are like children to me.”

The goats had been staying on a farm in Tewksbury, which has a slaughterhouse on the property, since April. She received two of the goats — named Democrat and Republican — as a gift from her boyfriend, David Oliveira, in February, she told the Boston Globe. She got her third pet goat, named George Washington, in March.

State officials, however, said Maldonado's goats did not have the proper veterinary paperwork to be kept as pets, and a visit by a state inspector found that the goats also appeared to be sickly.

Because they were imported from Pennsylvania and Maine and designated as for “slaughter-only,” the goats had to be slaughtered or euthanized, state officials told the Boston Globe.

Under federal regulations, “slaughter-only” animals have to be killed and processed within 72 hours. To import a goat to keep as a pet, the goat has to be examined by a USDA-accredited veterinarian and given a certificate showing that it is healthy.

The goats also needed ear tags or other forms of official identification to show where it came from. Goats from certain states may need to be tested for certain diseases, state officials told multiples news outlets.

Maldonado told multiple news outlets she'd been trying to abide by the rules set forth by the state but just needed more time.

“I did everything they asked me to do,” Maldonado told The Lowell Sun. “We were trying to build a place for them, but it takes time.”

Read the full story in The Lowell Sun.