"On Jan. 16, the Department of Agriculture seized 74 goats, including some pregnant females, from the Butterfield Farm cheese-making operation in Cornwall. It marked one of the largest animal cruelty seizures in the agency's history. The goats' owners, who face animal cruelty charges, relinquished ownership of the animals, making the state responsible for their care.
The herd, which now numbers 95, is being housed at the agency's large-animal rehabilitation facility in Niantic, where prison inmates help with the care and feeding as part of special program developed in 2003.
At the legislative budget hearing on Tuesday, Reviczky told lawmakers the Agriculture Department has exceeded its current fiscal year budget by $380,000, with much of that cost stemming from care for animals including the rescued goats.
It's uncertain how long they'll be in Niantic. Dr. Bruce Sherman, a veterinarian and director of the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Regulation and Inspection, said the herd is being tested for two diseases. One is a virus that causes arthritis in the animals and can be contagious to other goats. The other disease causes abscesses.
"It's not just a simple matter of adopting these goats out or selling them," Sherman said. "Because we're going to be concerned about where they go and if other goats are going to be exposed to these diseases, if in fact they do have them."
A majority of the animals has gotten a clean bill of health, a department spokesman said.
Reviczky said the goats may ultimately be purchased and become part of a dairy goat herd, become backyard pets, sold as a "food source," or euthanized, depending on their medical conditions. He said the agency will "make a final decision on their fate based on the facts."
Rep. Bill Aman, R-South Windsor, has owned goats for 28 years and said the state's herd, if healthy, would fetch less than $6,000."