Remembering Cherokee's "Killer Goat"

When most people think of dangerous domesticated animals, images of rabid dogs and stampeding cattle come to mind. Cherokee County's most famous "killer" animal, however, was a goat named Snowball.

In 1990, a 76-year-old farmer purchased Snowball and began beating him to make him aggressive towards humans. According to the book Weird Georgia, this was done in order to make Snowball into a "guard-goat."

The conditioning apparently worked, as Snowball became aggresive-towards his owner. 

Do you remember Snowball the "Killer Goat?" Tell us in the comments!

After a year of abuse, Snowball finally had enough, and headbutted his owner in the stomach twice, chased him onto the farmhouse's porch and gave him a coup de grace that sent the farmer soaring through the air.

The injuries were fatal to the farmer, and Snowball was taken by Cherokee County Animal Control. After dozens of phone calls from Snowball's fans from around the world, he was released to live out the rest of his day's at Noah's Ark, an animal rehabilitation facility in Locust Grove, Henry County.

Although Snowball died in January, 2002, his impact on the facility was immeasurable; donations to Noah's Ark allowed it to catch up on its rent and eventually buy the property.