When Goats Yell Like Humans

In the last two weeks, I came across a YouTube video, Goats Yelling Like Humans – Super Cut Compilation. As of 16:21 (CST), February 23, 2013, the 2:05 minute video is up to almost 7,000,000 views. When I first caught this video, I thought it was remarkable how much the yelling goats sounded like humans. I kept replaying this video, eventually to the point where other folks in the same room asked me to stop.

Here is the video, imbedded:

In the last couple days, I learned and thought about a couple things.

1. The first is that when goats yell like humans, they are in pain and distress. I learned this from Linda Whitney (whom I know of as Aunt Linda, because she is my aunt). Linda knows about these sounds because she has raised goats. If we hear goats making these sounds, we need to know that they are either scared, hungry, need milking, or they are looking for their friends, the herd. Or there is something genuinely wrong with them in that they are physically hurt or sick. If we hear goats making this sound, it is okay for us to seek out and alert their caretaker, or a veterinarian.
2. While watching the YouTube of these goats yelling like humans, it also reminded me of the Pinocchio story, and how the Italian author, Carlo Collodi, eventually turned the liar, Pinocchio, into a donkey. Certainly there is something genuinely wrong with someone who lies in the same way that there is something wrong with a goat that yells like a human.