When Ottawa police went to check out a report of a child calling for help in the city's rural west end last week, they didn't find the kid — but they did get their goat.

On the evening of Jan. 27, officers responded to a call from a resident who said he heard the sound of a child calling for help coming from a wooded area near his property.

They searched, but they neither heard nor saw a child in distress. The officers went to check with neighbours, and at one house found a woman with her three children all accounted for.

When the father arrived, he told police his goat had been screaming earlier, and when he went to investigate he found the animal with its head stuck in a fence.

"The farmer said the sound could be mistaken for a child screaming. He led the officers to the area and sure enough, it was exactly where the complainant reported the sound coming from," police said in a news release.

"All kidding aside, police are reminding residents to report suspicious activity immediately so we can check it out. It's always better to be safe than sorry."