Not kidding: Goat rescued from pipe at WA substation

Western Power
A happy Billy after the rescue

A joint rescue ‘Operation one goat’ with the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has resulted in the successful liberation of a baby goat from Western Power’s Wangara substation.

A late afternoon call on Monday alerted Western Power’s network operations team to the plight of the curious kid’s exploits when DFES reported they were receiving calls about odd noises coming from the northern suburbs facility.

A Western Power spokesperson said a substation switching operator was immediately sent to the scene and confirmed that there was in fact a small goat inside the facility but only its head was visible, popping up from the ground.

“We thought they were kidding at first but much to our crew member’s surprise he was greeted by the sight of the young goat’s head popping out of the drain bleating in distress,” he said.

“It appeared that the curious kid had re-enacted the Shawshank Redemption escape scene, but in reverse and crawled up a very narrow water drain toward the fenced compound, where it ended up getting its head caught in a drain grate.

“Although the wellbeing of the goat was our staff member’s highest priority the decision was made to comfort the kid while DFES were called in to assist with the release by using their rescue experience and equipment.”

Fire fighters from the nearby Wangara Fire Station were escorted into the energised substation to safely free the young goat, who has been affectionately named Billy.

Billy was returned to his mother and much greener, and fenced, pastures before sunset.

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