He has a fondness for photo ops and a querulous expression that says, “Hey, where are my treats?”
Therein lies a problem for Diablo, the little black goat who roams a pasture next to Wyodak’s power plant 12 miles east of Gillette, out where the antelope like to play.
The goat has become something of a legend and celebrity around Gillette. But sometimes the treats people bring him aren’t good for the aging mascot called the "goatalope" because he's often seen hanging around with a pronhorn herd.
Take his favorite: French fries.
They’re salty, greasy and over-processed — things that aren’t great for goats. Let’s be honest, here. They’re not great for humans either.
But the real killer in French fries for a goat is the starch. Too many French fries can trigger rapid fermentation, leading to a fatal condition known as grain overload.
“I’ll admit, in the beginning, because I didn’t know anything about goats, I was one of them,” Kim Buhite-Howery told Cowboy State Daily. She is managing Diablo’s Facebook fan page these days.
“But I’ve kind of done my research since then and, as much as he loves human food, that stuff’s not good for him," she said.
That doesn’t mean he won’t still try to get at your French fries, if he can.
“One day I stopped and he was up by the road,” she said. “He smelled my Wendy’s that I was bringing home. I had the door open because I was petting him and he smelled the Wendy’s and crawled over me and tried to get the fries.”
Starchy Foods Are Goat Killers
These days the treats Buhite-Howery brings are better for goats. An occasional carrot and some rolled oats for example.
Corn, on the other hand, is iffy … yes, goat feed often does have some cracked corn in it. But it’s starchy and should absolutely be used very sparingly in a goat’s diet.
Other items make the “never” list, including avocados, chocolate, or tomato or potato plants. They contain chemicals that are highly toxic for goats.
“I’ve come to realize and people have said, it’s not really cool to bring him food, because No. 1, it’s not good for him, and No. 2, if you leave decomposing food it gets gross,” she said. “Not to mention the fact we’re talking about Wyodak property here.”
Right now, Wyodak seems to look the other way regarding the somewhat famous goat who has taken up residence in their pasture, Buhite-Howery said. For that to continue, she said she believes it’s important that the public not do things that will turn him into a nuisance.
Diablo Has Been Sick
Last week, Diablo gave his fan club a scare.
“Someone had tried to post a video of him on Facebook,” Buhite-Howery said. “And I watched the video and I’m like, ‘Something’s not right.’”
Buhite-Howery called animal control to come meet her in the area Diablo frequents.
“He was not doing well at all,” Buhite-Howery said. “His breathing wasn’t right. He was all droopy, and you could just tell it was taking all his energy just to breathe.”
There was initial speculation that perhaps the human food he’d been getting had been a little too much. But that turned out not to be the case.
This time, anyway.
A local veterinarian who donated her services came to check him out. She determined that he needed an antibiotic.
“She gave him a fever reducer and a dose of Lasix,” Buhite-Howery said. “Part of the concern is that maybe he’s going into congestive heart failure, given his age.”
Lasix is a common diuretic medication used to treat fluid buildup caused by congestive heart failure.
The goat wasn’t his usual ornery self, Buhite-Howery added.
“She took his temperature and they obviously have to do that rectally,” she said. “And the vet said he didn’t even flinch.”
She also gave him a shot with an 18-gauge needle, which also didn’t draw a reaction.
Fans of Diablo have already asked if they should start a fund for his medical care, Buhite-Howery said.
“By Wednesday he was better,” Buhite-Howery said. “He went back out to his power pole and was hanging out.”
“He was like, ‘Don’t you come at me with that rectal thermometer,” she added with a chuckle. “I’m going to tell you where to shove it. He was talkative. He was laying down and getting up.”
Stop The Negativity
After the incident, Buhite-Howery made a long post on Facebook about proper care and feeding for Diablo. She also implored people to stop making so many negative posts.
The page is meant to be a celebration of something great.
“In a time when there’s so much negativity, he’s like my one bright spot of the day,” she said. “If he brings joy to somebody, don’t tear them down and go, ‘Oh, it’s a goat, big fat hairy deal.’ He brings joy to a whole community.”
Lately, she’s seen a pattern where every post gathers negative comments.
“If you post a picture of him out there, somebody’s like, ‘Oh you gotta stop feeding him. The reason he’s fat is because of this,’” she said. “The vet said actually, for being as old as he is, he’s in really good shape.”
Diablo’s problem wasn’t his food this time, Buhite-Howery said. He caught something, and needed an antibiotic.
That said, human food isn’t best for him, she acknowledged.
“I was just kind of like, ‘You know, can we all just agree that human food is not good for the goat?’” she said. “‘Can we all agree that ,yes, he’s on private property and if you cross that fence it’s on you?’”
And, Buhite-Howery added, if the goat has escaped the fence, it doesn’t mean there’s a hole in the fence or that people who pet the goat are enabling him to get out any more than he otherwise would.
“I mean, when I first moved back to the area where we live now, I thought there was a hole in the fence somewhere and he was getting out,” she said. “Then one day I drove by and literally watched him crawl through the fence, come out, walk around a little bit, and then crawl back through the fence again.”
Diablo is just a free spirit.
“If he’s hungry and the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, he’s going to go for it,” she said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with his Facebook page or his popularity or people stopping by or anything like that.”
Not Your Typical Goat
He’s also a street-smart goat who has somehow managed to get along and survive — people, wild animals, and all — for what appears to have been a long time.
The animal-control officer who accompanied her to check on Diablo told Buhite-Howery she’s been noticing this goat for going on 20 years now.
The fact the goat has lived for so long in the wild, apart from a herd, is part of what’s made him legendary in Gillette.
Goats are more typically herd creatures. They usually feel more comfortable hanging out with fellow goats.
But Diablo is a confirmed loner. No one really knows how he’s managed to survive this long without a herd of fellow goats.
Theories about the goat’s origins have circulated over the years. According to Sherryl Hardy, who lives adjacent to the pasture where Diablo roams, the goat was among 10 or so feral goats her late brother Doug Hardy bought.
One day, Diablo wandered away and later turned up in the pasture with about 50 head of pronghorn.
Blue tongue disease ultimately killed his newfound friends. After that, Diablo just continued to roam. He was just not too interested in being part of a herd of goats, and would often escape the fence.
Eventually, his humans simply tired of trying to find him and chase him back home. Diablo was left to roam free.
Diablo does appear to be a male goat after all, Buhite-Howery added.
The veterinarian who examined him this time had the opportunity to get a close-up look and determined he is a gelded male — a wether — not a female nanny goat as some previously thought.
Gelded male goats do tend to live the longest, with typical lifespans ranging between 11 to 15 years for a pampered, well-cared-for goat kept in a safe and healthy environment.
Diablo has outlived what’s typical and then some, Buhite-Howery said.
The Clock Is Ticking
Fans of Diablo might not have much longer to enjoy him, Buhite-Howery acknowledged.
“Not that I’m counting the days,” she said. “But …”
That’s another reason she made the post: To implore people to stop with the negativity.
What she hopes for, as the current manager of Diablo’s Facebook page, is that people will just continue to visit, celebrate and pet Diablo now and then.
That’s what the goat has become used to.
“He’s very friendly,” she said. “If people stop and go out to the fence line he’ll come over and you can pet him. If it makes somebody happy, as long as it’s not hurting him or a mess for Wyodak, what’s wrong with that?”
The page Buhite-Howery manages was started by Gillette real estate agent Arika Von Kannon three years ago.
She told Cowboy State Daily in an interview last year there were just so many stories about Diablo. She decided a Facebook page would be a fun way to celebrate and memorialize a goat whose free spirit and independence have captured local hearts.
The Wyodak Goatalope Fan Group has become a place for fans to swap pictures and Diablo stories, as well as speculate about his origins.
Some have even written poems, like “the Little Black Goat,” by Wayne Holyoak of Rozet. The goat also appears in David Santoyo’s children’s book, “My Wyoming Dad.”
Watching The World Go By
Buhite-Howery has seen Diablo sitting with a gaggle of geese not far from his little shelter, built by someone anonymous and delivered sometime around Christmas last year. The shelter is heavy enough that it stands up to Wyoming wind, Buhite-Howery said.
“I think the geese had nests up there,” Buhite-Howery said. “And he’d sit there with the geese, just watching the world go by.”
She’s also seen the goat in the field with deer and a friendly house cat that sometimes visits, too. To her, it just shows that Diablo has a way of making friends.
“He has his quote unquote haters,” Buhite-Howery acknowledged. “But he makes people laugh, and he brings people smiles. And if he does that, then that’s why we do what we do.
“Because maybe that’s what the person looking at his picture needed is to say, ’Hey, here’s this little goat and he’s out there just enjoying life,’” she said.
In that lies a lesson for all humanity.
Perhaps you don’t have a herd, but the geese are putting on a fine show. If you can just sit still for a moment, you can enjoy what the world has to offer, even without a herd.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
