This time, Lubbock ISD police believe dogs are to blame for the deaths.
Police are investigating the incident at the ag barn, along Marsha Sharp Freeway west of Slide Road, in which three dogs entered the goat enclosure and attacked the livestock early Monday.
“We were able to get a vet to do an autopsy and confirm that it was dogs that caused the damage,” said Jody Scifres, Lubbock ISD police chief. “We couldn’t catch (the dogs), unfortunately. They are still at large.”
Roger Green, the district’s ag farm manager and Monterey High ag teacher, said he received a phone call around 10 a.m. from another ag teacher telling him about the dead and injured goats. Lubbock ISD officials initially believed some of the animals were shot.
“I was coming back from Ruidoso and I got a call from the other teacher and he said, ‘We have a goat problem,’” Green said. “Immediately, they suspected it was gun shots again because that is what happened weeks ago. This time, it was definitely dogs. We took four to the vet and had them x-rayed and I went to animal control and went through them (the goats’ injuries) and they were all teeth marks.”
Lubbock ISD police already were investigating a case of 29 goats shot by unknown assailants sometime late July 14 or early on the morning of July 15 at the school agriculture barn. Only one survived; 18 were already dead when a caretaker found them last month and 10 were euthanized after medical evaluations.
Scifres said police have no updates on that case and are still looking for suspects.
“It’s going to take some time, but, (with) something like that, it is highly unlikely that it was just one person that was involved,” he said. “There’s more than one person with information that is out there.”
Green said the eight goats that survived the dog attack are recovering and expected to heal.
“They’re going to make it,” Green said.
More security has been added at the barn after the July shooting, with Lubbock ISD police surveying the area more often. But Green said dog attacks are something they can’t control.
“As far as dog attacks, that has happened at every ag farm across the United States. That is something that we deal with,” Green said. “The only security you could do to keep a dog out would be a 24-hour guard, and that’s not feasible. But we’ve set dog traps here.”
In total, 39 goats have been killed at the Lubbock ISD ag barn in the last month.
Green said he is hopeful investigators will find out who is responsible for shooting and killing the other goats.
“(Students) have been just contacting me about this (attack), and they are still devastated about the last one,” Green said. “They take care of them and it’s their pets and they have fun with them. We had so much publicity that they are probably so scared now, it’s going to take them a while before they say something. But eventually somebody will say something to somebody. It might be a year or whenever it is.”
How to help
To report information about the recent attacks on goats in the Lubbock Independent School District ag barn, call Lubbock ISD police at 219-0212 or Crime Line at 741-1000, or text the word “LBKTIPS” to 274637.
A $600 reward is available for anyone with information that leads to a conviction in July’s attack that left nearly 30 goats dead.
Additionally, a Lubbock realtor, Robin Long, is raising money in a separate reward account for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Long said he is concerned that whoever killed the goats will move on to more serious crimes in the future.
“The goats have been replaced,” Long said. “I thought that’s good. But my ultimate goal is to catch whoever did this.”
Donations to the reward fund can be made at any First Bank and Trust location, but Long said he will personally go out and collect checks if needed.
Long said he has raised between $3,400 and $3,500 before leaving on a business trip recently.
“I’m going to start back in again,” he said.
(Lubbock Online - Aug 9, 2016)
