LI Goat Grabs Broomstick To 'Help' Sweep Sanctuary: VIDEO

NORTHPORT, NY — Cleaning up after oneself is a good habit to get into. So it's no surprise that when volunteers started sweeping up Saturday evening at the Lewis Oliver Farm Sanctuary in Northport, they got some "help" from one of its longtime residents.

Oreo, an 8-year-old goat known for causing mischief, grabbed a push-broom and did his best to pitch in when volunteer Lenore Mamarella started sweeping around the farm. Video posted to the farm sanctuary's Facebook page showed Oreo holding the broom with his head and appear to try to sweep too. By Monday, the video had already earned more than 2,600 views and hundreds of reactions.

But fellow volunteer Lorene Eriksen, who took the video, told Patch on Monday this isn't the first time Oreo has done this.

"He likes to itch a spot on his head between his horns," she said. "He'll run on anything he can get his horns on. And awhile back, I don't know how, he got a hold of a broom. And he realized he really liked broom handles. So whenever we sweep out there, we have to bring out an extra broom with us. Otherwise he'll go after the broom we're trying to use."

Oreo was part of a goat explosion on the farm. He was born there five months after the sanctuary adopted his pregnant mother and a second goat. Both had been seized from a backyard butchery in eastern Long Island. Oreo would've been auctioned off as a baby and sent to slaughter had he not been born at the farm, said Eriksen.

Since then, he's become quite a handful.

"He is very mischievous," she said. "He'll come up to us when we're picking up in the pasture. He'll push the wheelbarrow over. He likes to whack you with his horns. He's just a little aggressive."

Eriksen noted that Oreo, who was named as such because he was black and white when he was born, is much like his name — hard and crusty on the outside, but sweet on the inside. She hopes some good can come of his newfound fame. The small nonprofit sanctuary, which sits on a former dairy farm and petting zoo on Burt Avenue, is tasked with taking care of day-do-day care for the animals as well as fundraising.

The farm is actively seeking people to join or sponsor Team Annabelle — named for a cow on the farm — to run or walk a mile for Oreo and the rest of its animals at the annual Great Cow Harbor 10K Run on Sept. 21. Those interested can do so on the Team Annabelle website, as well as on the farm's website at www.lewisoliverfarm.org. Last year, the farm raised about $9,000. It hopes to triple that number this year and raise $30,000.

"There are so many people in the race, there’s no reason we shouldn’t hit it," said Eriksen.