Dozens Of Sheep, Goats Break Free From Hackettstown Auction

HACKEETSTOWN, NJ — Dozens of goats and sheep made a break for it Wednesday night, escaping from an auction house in Hackettstown. Their freedom was short-lived, however, and most of them were corralled back home.

Police said a loose gate at the Hackettstown Livestock Auction allowed the animals to escape around 9:30 p.m. Police and on-lookers got most of them back into the corral and the gate was re-secured with a rope. About 15-25 animals remain on the lam.

"Never did I think I would herd goats and sheep but [my friend] and I can take that one off the bucket list," one social media user shared.

It's not clear where the still-escaped animals are, or what will happen to them. If they don't make it back to auction, they'll have good company in the wild: Fred the Goat escaped from auction last year and has been roaming the streets of Hackettstown ever since.

Some suggested that maybe Fred had orchestrated the whole thing, with some help: "I think the goat and the deer teamed up and started an uprise. Didn’t Disney Pixar make a movie on this!" one resident joke online.

For one sheep, their dreams might be bigger than Hackettstown. In a photo shared with Patch, you can see the sheep longly looking at a New Jersey Transit train, just waiting to leave.

Some animals continued to enjoy their freedom around town Thursday morning. Hackettstown Police sent over these photos of the animals hanging out by the train station:

Main images via Anthony Preziosi, used with permission