Good Samaritan, Who Found Headless Goat, Recalls 'Horrific, Just Awful' Discovery On Medford Roadway

MEDFORD, NY — A Middle Island woman was driving over the Long Island Expressway in Medford late on March 15, when a white figure lying on the shoulder of the busy roadway caught her eye.

She thought it was a dog or a cat, and turned her vehicle around.

She always keeps gloves, and bags in her car to pick up animals that are injured or dead, and bring them to the vet in hopes of helping them or reuniting them with their owners.

"God forbid, it's somebody's, so, and I put my gloves on, and I picked it up, and I was like, 'Oh god, there's no head,'" she recalled.

Patch is not identifying her to protect her privacy.

The woman started thinking that the carcass was that of a dog, and began looking to see if its head was nearby. She couldn't find it.

When she brought it to an emergency vet in Selden to be scanned, the personnel there told her it was a goat.

She could hardly believe it.

The woman, who is an acupuncturist, is no stranger to death due to her medical training, said she has found dead cats before, and if she sees an opossum, she will check its pouch for babies.

She stops because she would want to know if it was her animal.

"I'm on a lot of lost and found pages on Facebook, and people just want to know if their cat is still around," she said. "And, you know, if I can help someone get closure, then why not?"

Her concern is that most of the time, someone will call the town, and the animal's carcass will be removed, possibly without the owner ever knowing what happened.

"They'll just come and pick it up as garbage," she said. "That's one of the reasons why I will also stop and pick it up, because let's get it scanned. Let's see if it's anyone's baby."

When she was told the animal was a baby goat, her first thought was that it was some sort of animal sacrifice.

Suffolk County's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced the incident last Thursday, saying that they are investigating it as animal cruelty.

Chief Roy Gross said he believes the goat was indeed killed as a sacrificial offering, which is common to see in the springtime.

The organization is now offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

The incident has her hoping for some justice.

"I mean, it was horrific," she said. "It's just awful. And, you know, I think if you're going to kill an animal, it should be to feed yourself. No, it should be with purpose and with thought, and with conscience. This obviously was not."