Woman saves 'goofy' animal

Rescued goat is given a second chance for happy life thanks to compassionate animal lover

Sharpe lets Einstein play in the backyard

photo by: MATTHEW CHERRIN

Caryl Sharpe has always wanted a horse or a burro. But when she heard from a friend three years ago that a baby goat was going to be fed to a snake, Sharpe couldn’t resist but adopt the animal.

Besides working full time for Boy Scouts of America as a regional manager, Sharpe, 46, spends her free time taking care of a goat that was born with a brain disability.

“A friend of mine that runs a reptile store found out one of her customers was going to feed Einstein to a boa constrictor,” Sharpe said. “So I said don’t let her do that. I will take him.”

Every day during her lunch break, Sharpe returns home to feed and play with Einstein. She has to give Einstein a monthly shot of liquid cartilage for his arthritis and feed him sweet feed, which caries different grains coated in molasses to make it sweet.

“During the day, he wonders around and gets stuck between stuff in the yard,” Sharpe said. “When I come home in the middle of the day, I let him run around and play. He eats everything. He got his head stuck underneath the truck one day.”

Caprine Arthritic Encephalitis

Einstein was born with a brain disease known as caprine arthritic encephalitis.

According to the Veterinary Clinical Pathology Clerkship Program, CAE is a viral infection in goats that can cause encephalitis in kids and chronic joint disease in adults.

When Einstein walks, he twists his neck until his head is upside-down, and he limps because of his arthritis. Sharpe said his bones are as fragile as glass.

CAE is a disease passed down by the mother goat. Encephalitis swells up the brain, causing dysfunction in the limbs and head, Sharpe said.

Bulding Einstein’s home

Besides adopting the goat before it was fed to a snake, Sharpe also asked one of her friend’s sons to build a goat pen for Einstein. She said she wanted Einstein to have shelter.

Nathan Pederson, an unemployed student at UNM, started building a goat pen four weeks ago in Sharpe’s backyard. He said the goat pen cost $300 in supplies to build.

He said it takes a special type of person like Sharpe to put the needs of a goat over her own.

Amy Baklini, a self-proclaimed animal lover, said she applauds what Sharpe is doing and said no animal should be subjected to a brutal death like being fed to a snake.

“It takes a lot of time to take care of animals like that,” Baklini said. “Every animal deserves its chance to live. If I had a big enough backyard or farm, I would totally save an animal like Einstein.”

Happy to be alive

Even though Einstein was born with a brain disease, Sharpe said he recognizes her and gets really excited all the time. She said he is a happy animal.

“He’s funny; he really enjoys living,” she said. “He gets happy and then just spins around in circles. He wags his tail all the time so he looks pretty happy.”

Sharpe said Einstein’s former owner didn’t know there was a name for the disease, but that there was something “goofy” about him.

“It sounded like it’s a normal thing for abnormal newborn animals to be killed,” she said. “I told them if they ran into that situation again, I would take any goat they had.”

Sharpe plans to adopt one or two lambs after Pederson is finished with the goat pen. She said the lambs were supposed to be fed to the same boa constrictor.

Written March 12, 2009

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