Baby goat stolen during snuggle event at Vancouver Island farm

LADYSMITH, B.C. – The owners of a Vancouver Island farm say one of their baby goats was stolen during an event where people can visit and snuggle with the cuddly animals.

Rebecca and Justin Dault own Yellow Point Farms in Ladysmith, B.C., and say they noticed a 12-day-old male kid was missing after the event on Saturday.

Justin Dault says it's unlikely the cream-coloured, black-spotted baby ran away because it was inside a locked paddock and he searched "high and low" for the animal after realizing it was gone.

He says they didn't record the identification details of the 50 people who attended the event but they've called the police and officers visited the property Monday.

Dault says the mother of the missing goat is distressed and has been wandering around searching for the young male while neglecting another baby.

The farm owner adds he's worried the little kid might not survive without its mother because it doesn't know how to drink milk from a bottle yet.

The couple has a large registered breeding herd of goats and this animal had already been pre-sold, Dault adds.

"Unfortunately, people joke about stealing a goat, but someone actually did steal one," he says.

"Hopefully, the person knows about animals. All we want is for them to just drive by and drop it off, really. Put it over the fence. Have a happy ending."