Before I met the family of goats living on Bowen Island, their human Emily warned me that they probably wouldn’t be very willing to get close to me, as they tended to be rather shy and aloof. Emily was pleasantly surprised when (as is evident in the photo above) the whole troupe felt comfortable with me as soon as I entered their enclosure.
Emily had contacted me because she was concerned about the relationship dynamics among the goats, who had until recently been living with a different human. Not everyone realizes that family relationships among animals can be just as complex and thorny as relationships among humans, but Emily had noticed that the two sibling goats, Betty and Sitka, weren’t getting along. Specifically, Betty was acting like a bully, aggressively chasing her sister and frequently preventing her from feeding. Their mother Freya, the matriarch of the clan, was pregnant and had not received adequate prenatal care before coming to live with Emily, so she was in a weakened state. Through communicating with Betty, I learned that Betty was expressing anger and resentment toward Sitka because she blamed Sitka for the troubles their mother was having. I explained to Betty that Freya’s diminished wellness was the result of their previous human’s inadequate care, and reassured Betty that Freya would now be well looked after. I also balanced all the goats’ energy systems.
After my visit, Emily reported that the relationships between the goats had improved significantly. Betty was chasing Sitka less frequently, and had stopped preventing her sister from feeding. Emily made sure that Freya had the prenatal support she needed (including a custom-made coat to keep her warm), and the work I did with the family members had helped establish healthy boundaries so they could all live together harmoniously. The whole goat family, including Betty’s two offspring and Freya’s new kids, now lives on a farm in Enderby, BC with Emily and her fiancée.