For the State Police and two central New York fire departments, Wednesday’s call was an entirely different animal.

A goat, perhaps taking social distancing to an extreme, needed a rescue after he found himself seemingly trapped on a ledge under a busy highway overpass near Marcy in Oneida County.

According to Trooper Jack Keller, the saga began with a call to 911 around 2:15 p.m. reporting a goat on the loose near Route 49 in the area of SUNY Polytechnic Institute. The goat wandered closer and closer to the road, eventually finding its way onto the embankment and up onto an I-beam underneath an overpass bridge. Keller said that’s when the 911 calls from confused drivers began coming in.

Troopers arrived around 3:15 p.m. and called in the Whitesboro and Maynard fire departments. Randy Caldwell, of the Maynard Fire Department, said the call was recorded in the department’s log as, “goat in rafters.”

Whitesboro firefighters responded with an aerial ladder truck and firefighters tried doggedly to coax the animal down from the overpass into the ladder’s basket. Their efforts were unsuccessful until the goat, seemingly of its own accord, began to meander back toward the embankment, said Caldwell. Once there, the goat took off, evading capture until a firefighter leapt over a guardrail and tackled the animal when it began to make a move back toward the busy road.

Police said local farmer Sherrie Hartwell came by and offered to take the goat home until its owner could be located. Hartwell hooked a rope around the goat and it was done. The entire incident lasted about an hour.

The story doesn't end there. Keller said the goat’s owner called the State Police on Wednesday night after seeing the story on the local news. He told authorities the animal had escaped while he was unloading cattle for market nearly two weeks ago. Hartwell offered the goats’ owner $150 to keep the goat and the two agreed.

In a post to Facebook, Hartwell said the goat is doing well and settling in nicely at his new home. He still needs an official name, however. Hartwell said she’ll be holding a naming contest sometime next week.

Both Keller and Caldwell said that while the incident was certainly not their usual Wednesday afternoon call, it was a welcome change of pace, a happy outcome in the midst of a busy, stressful time.