09/12/2025
Story time from Tamarack Mountain Homestead! 🐐
A few weeks ago, we had quite the scare with one of our Nigerian Dwarf does, Snickers, went missing!
Our girls love to free range around the yard, and since they never wander far, we’ll often let them stay out when we run quick errands. So my husband and I headed to town, gone only a couple of hours. By the time we got home it was dark, and as usual, I went out to tuck everyone into their pen for the night.
Except… only three goats were waiting at the gate instead of four.
I put the three away and did a quick sweep around the yard. Nothing. Not a sound, not a shadow. Snickers was just gone, and that is completely out of character for her. Immediately, the dread kicked in. We grabbed headlamps and started combing through the dark woods, calling for her, listening for any sign. Nothing. Not a track, not a noise, not a single clue.
And as much as I hated the thought, we started to believe a cougar must have gotten her. Our LGDs do an amazing job, but the goats free range outside the dogs’ fenced area. The idea that a predator came so close to the house, where our goats roam and our kids play, was horrifying. We felt violated, unsettled, and heartbroken. Snickers was part of our family, and just like that, she was gone.
Days went by. The herd felt emptier… quieter. Maybe they were mourning her too, or maybe Snickers had just always been the loudest voice in the group. We were grateful to still have her daughter, Dottie, but we searched the woods over and over hoping to at least find a trace of what had happened.
And then, on day FIVE, Snickers casually waddled up to the front of the house like she had just stepped out for a snack. 😳
No explanation. No warning. No shame. Just… “Hello, I have returned.”
We stared at her in disbelief! We had searched far and wide on the mountain. It was as if she had been abducted by aliens and beamed back down once they were done studying her. To this day, we have ZERO idea where she went or how she managed five days alone on a mountain.
But she was alive. Safe. Healthy. And acting as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
We are absolutely over the moon to have our Snickers back… but we will forever wonder what kind of wild mountain adventure she went on.
