WEST VALLEY, N.Y. (WKBW) — Monday afternoon, the Wolniewicz family realized they hadn't seen their goat Maple and her three-month-old twin babies all day. They live on a quiet street surrounded by land in West Valley. Julie Wolniewicz said she figured the goats simply escaped their fence and she'd find them nearby, but upon closure inspection it was something much more sinister.
UPDATE: The Wolniewicz family's stolen goats have been found. Read more here.
"We found the tire marks, and then when we went over to the fence, and we realized it was unhinged and thrown on the ground," Wolniewicz said.
Wolniewicz said the goats' electric fence was ripped from the ground and the electrical wires untied, something the goats could not do themselves.
"Some time in the middle of the night after 10 p.m. somebody just took all three of them. The mom and the babies," Wolniewicz said, "It's just sad to me that somebody would rob our daughters from their pets. I have to tell them now, and I don't want to have that conversation with them."
Wolniewicz has three-year-old twin daughters, so when Maple, their female goat, gave birth to twins, it was only fitting.
"[The girls] love the goats. They love the goats so much. They actually named the goats Mickey and Minnie because they love Mickey and Minnie mouse so they named the babies after them," Wolniewicz said.
Now, Cookie, the family's male goat, is the family's only goat left.
"We had to put our dog down that we had for 8 years. We had just got her after we moved in here. We lost another goat and her baby. Then we lost our three, so we lost four pets this year alone," Wolniewicz said.
There's no security footage because Wolniewicz said she never expected she'd need cameras living on such a quiet street. She also said the area doesn't have the infrastructure to set a system up.
"We don't have any internet available where we live right now. In order to set up video cameras or security cameras, a lot of them need that wifi piece so you can send it to your phone to see what's going on. We just don't have that capability where we live," Wolniewicz said.
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE GOATS? A West Valley family says their pet goats were stolen right out of their yard. They’re offering a $300 reward no questions asked for their safe return. @WKBW pic.twitter.com/bcQu67kY6h
— Olivia Proia (@OliviaProia) June 1, 2021
Wolniewicz has a message for those who stole her daughters' pets goats.
"Just bring them back. Just bring them back and put them back. We won't ask questions. Our daughters love those pets. We love them. That's why we got them. Just put them back so we don't have to explain to our daughters what happened and so that they don't realize there are bad people in the world who would do something like this," Wolniewicz said.
The family is offering a $300 reward for the safe return of the goats.
