NOT KIDDING: Peanut, Geraldton Christian College’s baby goat, found after going missing on weekend

An eagle-eyed good Samaritan has detailed how he rescued Geraldton Christian College’s missing baby goat after spotting children playing with the animal in Spalding. After two days of panic and public pleas, the college’s baby goat Peanut has been found alive and reunited with her mother. The school issued an appeal on Monday after it discovered the four-month-old black and brown goat — one of three goats it has on school grounds — was missing from its animal enclosure. The school suspected the goat was stolen some time on Sunday afternoon or night, and reported it to police on Monday. Police are still investigating, but the exact circumstances surrounding Peanut’s disappearance are not yet clear. Fiona Davidson, a staff member at the school, said: “The fence had been pushed down in between the barbed wire at the top, so she would’ve had to have been passed through by someone.” She added the school would be looking to secure the enclosure further. In a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon, the college delivered the good news. “Peanut has been found. Huge thanks to Peter from BPH who saw her while driving around Geraldton and returned her to the college this afternoon.,” the school posted. “Peanut’s mother Oreo is so happy to be reunited with her baby.” Peter Criddle, from local earthmoving and heavy haulage servicing business BPH, told the Geraldton Guardian he was on his lunch break in Spalding when he noticed children playing with a goat in a front yard, which he automatically thought was unusual. “That’s when it caught my eye because it wasn’t really a dog or anything,” he said. “That’s when I pulled up and jumped out and walked over and noticed the ear tag was cut off.” Mr Criddle, who had heard about Peanut being missing, said he asked the kids where they got the goat and they replied it was their pet. “It was kind of suspicious so I just picked it up and chucked it in the back of the car and took it back home,” he said. “They (the children) just asked ‘what are you doing’, and then just started yelling around but I didn’t really pay attention to them or anything and took off. “I knew it was Peanut with the ear tag off.” The random encounter ended with Mr Criddle calling the college and he brought the goat to them to confirm it was indeed Peanut. “They said straight away that it was Peanut,” he said. “Because if it wasn’t, (it) would have just been a misunderstanding.” Mr Criddle was a little late back from his lunch break, but it was all for a good cause. Peanut was returned safe and sound but Ms Davidson said “she was pretty hungry. She’s been drinking milk from her mum since she got back”. Ms Davidson said when Peanut arrived at the school, staff member Harri “carried her back down to the courtyard and as they got closer she could hear her mum and then she started bleating and wriggling and pulling out to her and so that was really cute. He put her back in the pen and she was straight on to mum to have a drink.” Ms Davidson thanked the public for their help in finding Peanut. “Most people care about animals. And I think that’s really lovely that everybody kept an eye out for her. We’re very grateful to Peter obviously for rescuing her and bringing her home,” she said.