No kidding, this story from Wales is the light relief we all need right now

A goat roaming the empty streets at night during lockdown
Afroze Fatima Zaidi


It’s day six of the coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown in the UK. And with some people having self-quarantined for even longer, it isn’t surprising that they’re worried they might start seeing things.

So when Andrew Stuart, a journalist in Llandudno, saw goats roaming the street at night, of course, he was sceptical. He had to record the sighting as proof:

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Worried about the havoc goats about town might wreak, Stuart describes calling the police and getting the goats “arrested”. But not before determining that they were, in fact, breaking social distancing rules:

‘Kids running riot’

The police are now dispersing groups of more than two people for breaking lockdown rules. Responding to Stuart’s report of “kids… running riot”, they did turn up and herd the goats away:

Too bad they didn’t learn their lesson, the stubborn goats. They were back the next day, making the most of the empty streets. And they were still gathering in groups of more than two:

Clearly these goats are a law unto themselves. With those horns though, staying 2m away is definitely a good idea:

Comic relief

The goats may not have ended up in lockup, but Stuart’s account definitely provided some much needed light relief in otherwise distressing times:

And it’s clear the government isn’t going to live down its failed ‘herd immunity’ strategy any time soon. The initial plan, rather than containing the spread of the virus, was literally to just let a majority of people get infected. This was with a view to ‘building immunity’ amongst the population – an approach that’s unheard of without the use of vaccines. When they said ‘herd immunity’, this probably isn’t what they had in mind:

At the end of the day, we may be living in dark times, with an incompetent government and police too excited about new powers. But if you can see goats outside your window and record them for Twitter, things definitely aren’t all bad.

Featured image via Twitter/ Andrew Stuart

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