Give a Goat for Christmas

Reuters, via Yahoo ^ | 12.24.2004

[NYC GOP Chick]

LONDON (Reuters) - Looking for a last minute Christmas gift? Think goat!

You will pay 24 pounds ($46) for a goat or 10 pounds for a brood of chickens, tell a friend or relative that this is their Christmas present, and it will be sent to a Third World family to provide milk, meat, manure and offspring for trade.

People have bought 31,000 goats and 500,000 chickens under the scheme set up by the international aid agency Oxfam, not to mention 650,000 tree seedlings to provide wood and shade and prevent soil erosion. Other aid agencies have similar projects.

"Not only do people like the idea of giving something so unusual at Christmas, but you can also see how a goat, chicken, bike or midwife will make a difference to a person struggling against poverty," Oxfam manager Douglas Graham said.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Oh my! Now you've got me curious and you're going to have to let us know what happens!

[LisaMalia]

Yeah - it is!!!

Granted, I absolutely HATE my feet, especially my toes, but that is not the weird part.

Gee, I feel like I'm spilling my guts in a Hee-Haw type version of an "E" True Hollywood Story episode....:)

[Senator Pardek]

AAHHHH! - So that's why the photo ends at the ankles :)

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Here's an excerpt from an e-mail I just sent out to all friends as a Christmas greeting. I just sent this out about three hours ago.....

(the context is the ice storm two nights ago and everything is a skating rink)

I have a billy goat..honest!

"I went out to feed ducks, chickens, goose and goat and fell on my ass (again). The goat and I got into it yesterday. He used to be a nice little billy goat. Now, he's a mean sumbitch. (Come to think of it, so am I) He started butting me and hooking me with his horns. I kicked him and threw him down using a headlock. He jumped back up like he wanted more. I suddenly realized, he LIKES IT! (little bastard)

Anyway, Merry Christmas, and DON'T GET NO DAMN GOAT unless you want to play SMACKDOWN!"

[LisaMalia]

No, the thing I was going to tell is not really about me, but my son..

He shares a foot with each of his parents (me and my ex-husband).

On one foot, his second toe is longer than his big toe, like mine.

On his other foot, his second toe is shorter than his big toe, like his dad's.

I guess he got the best of both of us...my looks and his dad's smarts...LOL.

And a pair of very original feet!

[lavrenti]

I see a lot has happened since I decided to goat.

[finnman69]

I wonder how they keep the animals alive during shipping...

Lots of dry ice and the small disposable 3rd world child who is included who feeds and nourishes the goat in the shipping crate.

[finnman69]

Goat of the Month club.

[philetus]

I wonder how many will get rich over this one.

[NYC GOP Chick]

</groan>

[NYC GOP Chick]

LOL!

[Capriole]

The Heifer Project (http://www.heifer.org) does wonderful work. You can buy a village a heifer (that's a young female bovine, for you non-country folks) that can be bred to a local bull so it begins producing calves and milk, and is the foundation of a herd. You can also give goats, ducks, pigs, sheep, chickens, even water buffalo, whatever animal is suited for the climate and culture of a particular region. I like it because the animals are incredibly cheap and thus you know your money is not being sucked into some vast bureaucratic sinkhole. When you give breeding animals this way you are helping people to found their own business on the principle of "teach a man to fish," etc.

[MarkL]

I wonder how they keep the animals alive during shipping...

Do they ship them like Sea Monkeys?

[Squantos]

Dry ice........Merry Christmas !!...........:o)

[Central Scrutiniser]

Walk through an open air market in Asia, lots of goats, goat heads, etc.

Scary looking things them goats, moreso without skin.

[groanup]

I have had a goat or a donkey or a chicken or something given in my name, as a Christmas present, every year for the last ten or so. I haven't read the entire thread. Is it a scam?

[NYC GOP Chick]

Ewww!!!

[NYC GOP Chick]

Well, why not read at least the article?

[lavrenti]

Ewww!!!

What? Did you see one pass on the street below your window? The other day I had an elephant in my pants, but I don't know how it got there.

[Central Scrutiniser]

My local chinese grocery has live frogs and, the most foul of foods, Balut, which is a fertilized duck egg, boiled 3 days before hatching, and eaten whole.