Baaaah Humbug: Stolen Goats Still Missing From Morgan Hill

MORGAN HILL, CA --With almost a month gone by and Christmas closing in, the idea of having no leads on suspects that stole Dan Allen's 60 goats is eating away at the rancher who makes a living off of them.

Getting the goats back would be the greatest Christmas gift for Allen, who runs Green Goat Landscapers. Finding them would also be important to Allen's 3-year-old daughter, who bonds with the babies.

As it turns out, goat mothers aren't the best, so someone has to look out after the youngsters.

"They're not good mothers. Sometimes they ditch them," Allen told Patch.

Now before a conspiracy theory is drummed up, Allen clarified that it's obvious they were illegally taken from the friend's property -- about a mile away from his 16-acre ranch in Coyote Valley between Morgan Hill and San Jose.

"I feel violated," Allen said.

What really gets his goat is the spot where they were ripped off is completely hidden with an electric fence around the site, and only a few people knew they were there.

Inside job?

No, Allen said, easing concerns about his friend's reputation.

"Unfortunately, they took a group that's almost all female," he said. The females work and breed, so they're ideal to own.

Also unfortunate is having no insurance on them. He's essentially eating a loss valued at about $15,000. It's not like goat landscaping is a high-dollar industry like Allen's previous line of work -- high tech. So losing that much income hurts.

Moreover, it's one thing after another.

Allen plans to hire a herder to accompany his border collie and Australian shepherd, but the skilled laborer from Peru is having a hard time getting his visa. The United States has not been the friendliest nation toward immigrants and international workers. It could take three months before the man can get here to watch over the remaining herd of 170 Alpine, Nubian and Boer goats.

There's a fiscal irony that goes with the emotional pain. This is the first year Allen has broken even on his business bottom line, a trend that normally bodes well for the future.

Green Goat Landscapers started as his father's hobby. He took it over a few years ago to run it as a business. The company has taken Allen and his four-legged "partners" from Santa Cruz to the Peninsula, and in particular to sites in Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Woodside and Watsonville.

His customers run the gamut -- with one of the worst offenders violating his trust in humanity.

A woman who heard that goat's milk cures poison oak outbreaks hired Allen's goats to mow down the pestering plant. But they did more than eat. Allen discovered the client was milking his goats.

He thought the ballsy move was unusual, to say the least.

Most of the jobs take four days to a week, and a lot of the clients ask for longer periods. But Allen is protective of his goats because they have sensitive diets anchored by alfalfa.

"They're stress-prone animals," he said, further wondering about the impacts of the theft. He believes they might have gone to the slaughterhouse. His father is convinced the thief has started his own business with the family's property.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department took a report regarding the theft that occurred on Thanksgiving weekend on Richmond Avenue in unincorporated Morgan Hill. If caught, the suspect faces grand theft, theft of a vehicle trailer and vandalism charges.

Allen joked he'd like to return to the Old West days, seeking the severe punishment given to horse thieves back in the day.

The suspect apparently entered the uninhabited, open field by cutting through a locked gate, destroying a corral while taking the goats and a trailer recovered by the Morgan Hill Police Department a few days later. The authorities have uncovered no motive.

"Sad case," sheriff's Sgt. Rich Glennon told Patch.

--Images courtesy of Green Goat Landscapers