Emergency responders in Monroe Township are used to handling the unexpected, but last week they found themselves on a different kind of call: helping an escaped herd of goats get home safely.
According to Monroe Township EMS, Ambulance 513 was returning from CentraState Hospital in Freehold around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 when the crew spotted about 20 goats roaming along Perrineville Road near Route 522.
Crew members John Schwartz and Christopher Zwickel helped move the goats off the roadway before locating the animals' owner and alerting him that they had escaped.
The owner showed the crew that all it took was a bucket of corn. After he gave the bucket a shake, the goats came running out of the woods and headed home.
"HQ...we have a situation," Monroe Township EMS wrote in a social media post recounting the unusual encounter. "You GOAT to be kidding me."
The agency said everyone made it back safely and that "nobody was feeling too BLEAT down."