Updated: 12:11 p.m.

Two deputies used two different firearms and fired four shots before they were able to put down a truculent goat that escaped a Northwest Portland farm last weekend.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Washington County Sheriff's Office released a police report detailing the events of Sunday, Aug. 6. The move came after various reports of an incident that left a goat allegedly worth $1,200 dead in a Portland neighborhood.

"While we believe the use of force was appropriate given its prolonged aggressiveness towards the deputy," Deputy Jeff Talbot wrote in an email to the media Wednesday, "we are also saddened for the goat and the owner."

The report gives a more complete picture of the events that led a deputy to fire three shots at a goat from a handgun, and then call another deputy to ultimately kill the goat with a rifle.

Deputy Brian Auld, who wrote the report, said he responded to NW Catalpa St. and NW Woodrush Way to assist two other deputies on an animal complaint call.

"I know from my experience that this is a new housing development that backs up to farmland on NW Germantown Rd.," Auld wrote.

Auld said he counted 6 goats and 5 sheep, all escaped from a nearby farm.

One of the deputies was attempting to find the owner of the animals while the other tried to corral the loose livestock. Auld reported that he assisted in the corralling effort.

"The goats would wander towards the edge of the grass looking like they wanted to escape towards the houses," he said, "then return to the grassy area."

Auld noted that the weren't alone while they tried to wrangle the animals. "There were several people out walking around on the sidewalks where we were, including small children and families," he said.

That's when things escalated.

"One of the goats wandered out of the grass and walked towards me as I was walking along the edge of the road," Auld said. "Deputy Auth went to his patrol car and sounded his air horn which caused the goat to temporarily retreat back into the grassy area."

But the air horn was only a temporary solution.

"The goat did this several times, each time coming towards me more aggressively than before," Auld wrote. "As I was standing about 20-30 feet from the goat, I watched him get up on his hind legs and ram his horns into a tree that was planted in the parkway along the road."

Auld estimated that the goat, later identified as Volt, a $1,200 New Zealand breeding male, was about four feet tall and had horns about 18 inches long.

"I could see that the horns were very sharp," he wrote.

The goat continued to come for Auld.

"I walked along the road towards Deputy Auth's patrol car as the goat started walking towards me again. I managed to maneuver around and get behind a metal light pole behind Deputy Auth's patrol car as the goat was coming towards me," he wrote. "The goat rammed his horns into the light pole and came around the pole towards me again."

Auld continued to retreat but, according to his report, the goat wouldn't back down.

"The goat put his head down and approached me with his horns pointed towards my pelvic area," Auld said. "I grabbed a hold of one side of the horns and pushed him away from me. I could feel the strength of the goat as he brushed me off and came at me again."

The goat would not be deterred.

"It appeared as though my pushing the goat away was making him more and more angry as he kept coming at me," Auld wrote. "I managed to push him away a couple more times by the horns, but this seemed to be making him more aggressive."

At this point, Auld decided to take action.

"I managed to get about 5 feet away from him and I could see that there was nothing behind him," he wrote. "I yelled to Deputy Auth that if he came at me again I was going to shoot him."

The goat did not heed the warning and charged again.

"I pulled my pistol out of the holster and fired one shot into the back his head near the base of his neck," Auld wrote. "This immediately caused the goat to stop and briefly fall to the ground."

But Volt was not dead. He got up after the initial shot.

"As he was stumbling back towards the grass, he was making loud screaming type noises," Auld said. "He flopped down on the ground briefly, and I walked over behind him. I could tell that he was struggling to get back up and appeared to be suffering."

Now, Auld needed to end the goat's suffering.

"I shot him again in the side of the head, just below the eye," he said. "This caused more screaming and struggling, but did not kill him. I shot him again once more just above the shoulder, attempting to end his suffering, but my handgun rounds appeared to be ineffective on the large animal."

The goat continued to struggle and wander around. A sergeant arrived and requested a deputy to respond to the location with a rifle.

Over the phone on Thursday, Matthew Minnick said this is the point when he arrived. He said his goat was "bleeding out the nose," and clearly in pain, but still walking around.

Minnick said he tried to explain to deputies how to shoot and kill the goat with their handguns, but they wanted to wait for the bigger gun. They waited for 10 minutes, the whole time "I am pretty much begging these guys to take the kill shot." Minnick said.

"While we were waiting for Deputy Hartle to show up, Deputy Auth, Sgt. Bennett and I used our patrol cars to attempt to keep the injured goat from wandering off," Auld wrote. "We managed to corral him down into an area between 2 unoccupied houses that were under construction."

Then the deputy with the rifle arrived.

"Deputy Hartle was able to put the goat down with one shot from his rifle," Auld wrote.

"I'm not against police," Minnick said. "It's just an issue that they need to be aware of."

He thinks if the deputies had more training in how to deal with farm animals, Volt, his only breeding male, would still be alive.

Minnick agreed that Volt was probably around 250 pounds and built "like a tank," but said, "I've got kids who can put the goat where they want to put it."

"You have to be smarter than the animal," he said. "A bucket of grain works every time."

In his report, Auld wrote, "Matthew stated that the development company that was building the homes had taken down his fence and put up a new one that wasn't effective at keeping the animals from escaping."

Minnick said he partially blames the developers who took down his livestock fence and replaced it, after a long delay, with a residential fence. He plans to address the issue with them too.

"Sgt. Bennett gave Matthew a business card with his information," Auld wrote at the end of his report. "We then helped Matthew load the deceased goat into his truck."

Minnick said he plans to file a claim with the county for the loss of his goat and has also started a GoFundMe to help replace him.

He said it was tough to see Volt suffer and hopes law enforcement working in agricultural communities get more training on how to deal with animals. He also hopes police "realize that lethal force isn't the answer every time."



"This is a goat," Minnick said. "It could have been a person."



"You gotta use a little more common sense," he added.

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052

lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker