Making goats of themselves: Cory Freeman of the Rimrock Humane Society looks over at two stranded goats as they perch on a rail bridge in MontanaHere is the perfect example of how a moonlight stroll can go horribly wrong.
Two young goats that wandered onto the thin ledge of a 60ft railway bridge had to be rescued by a crane after two days high above a remote highway.
The poor animals' plight was only discovered when a passing motorist contacted a local charity and alerted them to the situation.
Rimrock Humane Society called the police, who then enlisted the help of a local coal mine to bring in a crane and pluck the animals to safety near Roundup, southern Montana.
The young female animals, weighing about 30lb each, mostly stayed on the angled ledge - even though there was a wider surface area on a pillar just a few feet away.
Rimrock Humane Society president Sandy Church said: 'The whole time, we thought they were going to fall off. These guys are just babies.'
Ms Church said it wasn't clear how the nimble-footed animals got into the predicament, but she speculated they wandered onto the ledge at night and then froze after the sun rose and they discovered where they were.
She said that the goats sometimes stepped to the pillar but returned to the narrower ledge, where they tried to rest their tired legs by tucking them under their bodies for a few seconds at a time.
Long way down: The two goats remained on the thin ledge for two days - until authorities could pluck them to safety after enlisting the help of a nearby mine, which brought a crane to the rescue Authorities were called on Tuesday, when the goats were first spotted. But confusion about the location delayed the rescue until another caller alerted the humane society yesterday.
The sheriff's office, Ms Church and Cory Freeman, a humane society volunteer who runs the Animal Edventures Sanctuary, enlisted the help of officials at Signal Peak Energy, which operates a nearby coal mine.
Mine boss John DeMichiei volunteered a mining crane with an arm high enough to reach the stranded goats that eventually moved to the pillar.
Both animals were thirsty and tired but have recovered well after their ordeal - and are undoubtedly giving late-night walks a miss for the time being.
source: dailymail
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