Freedom Goat Runs for Her Life, Snarls Traffic

It's hard not to root for the goat in this one: One believed to have escaped en route to a slaughterhouse snarled the morning commute along one of the busiest roadways in northern New Jersey today, leading police on a nearly two-hour chase. The small female eluded five Jersey City police officers for more than 90 minutes by jumping back and forth over a central divider along the Pulaski Skyway, alternately disrupting traffic along both east and west-bound lanes.

The goat eventually tired, and officers were able to form a semi-circle and catch her. Officials are still trying to determine where the goat came from. One of her ears has a Department of Agriculture tag, suggesting she escaped a truck headed to a slaughterhouse. If no company claims the goat, she will be moved to a rural animal welfare facility that can accommodate livestock. "If it can survive running around the Pulaski Skyway for two hours, and then winds up in a slaughterhouse, it's kind of sad," says a city spokesperson. "But if someone claims her, she is private property, so there's not much we can do." (More strange stuff stories.)