The Goats of San Clemente Island, continued

Amory began looking in the San Diego area to find a facility to house the goats temporarily, as he worked to adopt some of them out to loving families and sent many others to Black Beauty Ranch in Texas. As it turned out, Patricia Nelson was running the Animal Trust Sanctuary in Ramona, a sanctuary for unwanted dogs and cats in San Diego County. When she retired, she gave the sanctuary to The Fund. In time, Cindy and Chuck Traisi would transform the facility into The Fund for Animals’ Wildlife Center.

Cindy and Chuck had read the news accounts of the Navy’s initial stop of the hunt, and then were appalled to learn of the Navy’s desire to resume shooting the goats. At that time, Chuck was a civilian employee for the Department of Defense in security, and Cindy was a teacher. Chuck used his military connections and appealed to the Navy brass to stop the resumption of the hunt. Two hours later the hunt was called off, and a few years later in 1985, the Traisis had committed their lives to helping animals by accepting jobs with The Fund to run the rehabilitation facility.

Amory was successful in his promotion of goats as good companions and succeeded in getting most of the goats adopted. Since goats are herd animals, Amory insisted that if the potential adopters were without hoofed animals in their care, they would need to adopt a pair, so the goats would be among their own kind.

Today, San Clemente Island remains a no-goat land, but thanks to Cleveland Amory, the Traisis, and The Fund, these special animals were spared from death’s grip. None of the original goats rescued from San Clemente Island remain at the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch or the The Fund for Animals’ Wildlife Center in Ramona, California, but approximately 200 remain scattered at loving homes throughout the world.

Related Links

Read more about Cleveland Amory.

Offsite Links

Read more about the Traisis' work at The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Southern California.

Posted: January 16, 2007