Police and state officials seize goats from Redding property

REDDING — State Department of Agriculture officials seized several goats from a local residence Wednesday after receiving a complaint about “injured goats and general care issues,” according to a statement issued by the department.

Department of Agriculture officials Wednesday morning were taking the goats off the property and evaluating them at tables, photographing and tagging them on before moving them into a trailer.

Cross Highway, where the property is located, was closed in the early morning according to a town announcement. Redding police said in a statement they were assisting with the execution of a search warrant at the property.

State officials said they planned to take the animals into department custody for transportation to a state rescue and rehabilitation facility in Niantic.

“The animals will be evaluated and treated by a veterinarian and will remain in [the Department of Agriculture’s] custody and care until the case is adjudicated in the court system,” the release said.

Property owner Nancy Burton, who was on the property, did not comment.

In addition to a complaint received last October about general care issues, the department received complaints dating to 2017 “regarding roaming goats and the number of goats on the property,” according to the Department of Agriculture statement.

The department’s release said local and state animal control officers made multiple visits to the property in attempts to assess and resolve the situation. The Department of Agriculture ultimately resorted to obtaining a search and seizure warrant.

“Based on citizen complaints and surveillance that revealed animal welfare concerns, including mobility issues due to untrimmed hooves, excessive manure, lack of sufficient water, and structures in poor condition that did not provide adequate protection from the weather, the Department of Agriculture applied for, and was granted a search and seizure warrant for the goats in question,” the release said.

“Removal of the animals is a last resort after attempting to work with the owner to voluntarily improve the standard of care,” officials added.

Burton first adopted a goat — Katie the Goat — in 2008, according to court documents Burton has filed, including an appeal against Redding’s Zoning Board of Appeals and a complaint against the town of Redding and First Selectwoman Julia Pemberton. The goat had lived in Waterford, about five miles from the Millstone nuclear power plant. Katie the Goat’s milk had been tested for radiation and Burton moved her to the Redding property to “initiate a milk-sampling project downwind of the Indian Point nuclear power plant” in Buchanan, N.Y., she stated.

“[Burton] later rescued two other goats from southeastern Connecticut and since that time the goat population at [Burtons] property has expanded,” she wrote in a complaint against the Zoning Board of Appeals.

In the zoning appeal, dated January 2018, she stated the milk-testing continued after Katie the Goat’s death in 2012 and that the goat population on the property expanded to “some 50 adult goats,” but that she was working with a nonprofit organization to have them adopted. The population “has been reduced to date by 20.”

A total of nine adult goats are allowed on Redding properties before the Zoning Board of Appeals has to approve additional goats. In a 2019 complaint against the town and Pemberton, Burton argued she should be allowed to keep 30 goats on the property. The case was supposed to have a status conference Wednesday, but did not go forward due to the unavailability of the plaintiff, Burton.

Pemberton spent much of her morning observing the state’s action from the road. She said recent surveillance confirmed the town’s concerns.

“Anyone can observe, from the road, that there’s a shed with manure stacked so high that the goats can barely get into the shed,” Pemberton said.

“They shouldn’t be living, standing on a pile of [manure] barely getting out of the cold. It’s deplorable,” she added.

Pemberton said she doesn’t know if Burton will get her goats back but personally hopes she doesn’t.