Goat Becomes Hero: A Birthday Gift Saves the Day

Nick Bruce wasn't too thrilled when his ten-year-old daughter, Abigail, received an unconventional birthday gift last week: a goat.

"I really wasn’t keen on it," Bruce admitted, echoing parents everywhere. Nonetheless, he declared in a weekend interview, "Speedy the goat is staying with us forever!"

So, what changed Bruce's mind? Just a couple of days after Speedy the goat arrived at the Bruce family's home in Arkansas, it managed to save the entire family from a life-threatening situation.

On Shabbat, Abigail was sleeping in the living room with Speedy when suddenly the goat woke her by jumping on her legs. "I didn’t know what he wanted, but then I looked around and saw everything was smoky," she told the local TV station. Abigail rushed to her parents' room to wake them. "She said everything was smoky and she couldn’t breathe," recalled her father, Nick. "When I got up, I saw flames approaching the house." It turned out the garage was on fire, but the family managed to jump out the bedroom window onto the lawn, saving themselves. Firefighters arrived within minutes and extinguished the blaze, though smoke and ash caused damage throughout the house.

Regardless of the new furniture or other items the Bruce family will now have to buy, Speedy the goat is staying with them, they declare. "He just knew what to do," Abigail says admiringly. She's had to part from Speedy for a while, as he’s staying at friends’ stables while she and her parents are hosted by other friends until they can return home, but she eagerly anticipates reuniting with her new friend. "It’s lucky I got him for my birthday, or we wouldn’t be alive today," she says. "Speedy is the best birthday present I’ve ever received."