‘Help Zuri the baby goat walk and run:’ Fundraiser started for rescued kid who lost leg to frostbite

TAPPEN (NEWS 1130) — A baby goat that suffered severe frostbite after being born in wet, frigid conditions has been rescued by a B.C. animal sanctuary, and a fundraiser has been set up to cover the expense of fitting the kid with a prosthetic leg.

The rescue effort began when Diane Nicholson with the Twin Heart Animal Sanctuary saw an ad online.

“I saw an ad for her–giving her away at five weeks as a ‘pet’ or a ‘meat goat.’ It said that she’d lose both feet,” Nicholson writes on the GoFundMe page. 

“I couldn’t imagine someone taking her, allowing her to stay in pain (frostbite is exceedingly painful once the feeling begins to return), letting her feet fall off but doing nothing for them and keeping her alive long enough to eat her.”

Nicholson has named the goat Zuri. She details the first few days caring for the goat.

“She was terrified, in grief (she’d been with her mother and twin up until that day), in pain from her feet, and horribly itchy from lice. She screamed whenever I put her down and absolutely refused a bottle,” the fundraising page says.

“I placed her on my lap in the recliner and cuddled her to convince her she was safe.  There we slept for the next week until she was confident enough to sleep next to me in a crate.”

After taking Zuri to a veterinarian, Nicholson learned one leg would have to be amputated.

The initial treatment and X-rays cost $1,000. A series of prosthetics–designed to fit her as she grows–will cost about $5,000.

“Zuri has had a horrendous and painful start to her life. We’d like to make sure that ends and she is given a new, pain-free beginning– full of running and jumping and climbing, and love.”