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Goats Graze Outside Ikea in Red Hook

By Nikhita Venugopal | December 29, 2014 3:24pm
 Goats were spotted grazing in the grass outside Ikea's Brooklyn store in Red Hook.
Goats at Ikea Brooklyn
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RED HOOK — Maybe they needed a new rug to chew on.

Two goats were seen roaming around outside Ikea’s Brooklyn store over the weekend, grazing in the grass behind the Swedish megastore and wandering into the parking lot before they were caught, witnesses and officials said.

The goats — both black and white and wearing harnesses — were first spotted munching on grass in the green space behind Red Hook's Ikea at 1 Beard St. on Sunday afternoon.

By the time Lorna Montalvo, marketing manager at Ikea's Brooklyn location, received a call from the store's security at about 1:30 p.m., the runaway animals had made their way into the parking lot near the sliding glass doors of the store’s back entrance.  

“Can you say that one more time?” Montalvo, who was on duty at the time, recalled saying when she was told about the goats.

“I just thought that I was hearing stuff,” she said.

Along with two other managers, Montalvo went downstairs to the parking lot to “handle the goat situation” after security prevented the animals from entering the store’s building.  

Using the harnesses, the managers were able to corral the “quite friendly” goats into a cage that Ikea typically uses to store shopping carts in the parking area, Montalvo said.  

“They were very well-behaved goats,” she added.

Montalvo said police arrived at the scene a few minutes later, after contacting the animals’ caretaker.

A man on a bicycle, who claimed to be looking after the goats, arrived within 15 minutes and escorted the furry duo off the Ikea premises. He said he had been looking for them all day, Montalvo recalled.

“It was sweet,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Animal Care & Control confirmed that they received a call about the goats and that the animals were returned to their owner. 

Police did not immediately have further information about the goats' owner or the identity of the man who came to retrieve them.