The Gargoyle Cat, the Taylor Swift Goat, and the Runaway Cow

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1:05Megan Rapinoe here. This week on A Touch More, we've got more soccer content for those missing the NWSL. Soccer Power Sisters Sam and Christy Mewis join us to discuss the NWSL salary cap, what's different about playing in England, and of course, we talk about their new podcast, Mewis Squared, and the bickers they get into. Check out the latest episode of A Touch More wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.

1:34Last May, the Enid, Oklahoma Police Department got a call from a concerned citizen saying that they heard someone crying for help. Officer Neil Story responded. So as I start heading in that direction, you know, I'm thinking of every possible scenario that it could be. So I'm thinking it could be anything from kids playing out in the fields to something has happened to someone. Just trying to get my mind right and prepare for what I'm about to encounter. When he got there, he went to speak with the person who had called in. And we went through her house and stood in her backyard where she first heard it.

2:15And she's kind of explained it to me that she was back there reading a book and she heard something, what she felt like could be somebody yelling for help. And she said she heard it several times and she didn't call the very first time she heard it. But after hearing it a few times, she decided she probably better call and have us come look at it. Standing in her backyard, Officer Story could hear the crying, too. He began walking towards the sound. through her backyard and then through a field behind it. Another officer joined him. Here's audio from that day. That's a person. So that's when we take off running.

3:00We actually enter into the trees. And as we're in the trees, I hear it again. And at this point, I can see to the other side of the trees and I see a barn. and I pick up that it's coming from that barn. I mean, you're really running. I mean, yeah, we were moving and I'm a larger fella, so I try not to run as little as possible, but we were getting after it. And so now I'm thinking as I'm running out of this tree line, okay, somebody has had an accident inside this barn. Are they there in this barn? Of course, I start from the worst case scenario and work my way down. And so I'm thinking somebody's lost an arm and is bleeding out.

3:47So I start to scan around the barn. And as I come back around to the west side of the barn, I see a man next to a trailer. And he's leaned over and he was messing with the tire on the trailer. What did you think? Did you think this could be a suspect? my initial thought was okay well has this person done something to the person inside and then he looks up and starts to approach me and about that time I hear the noise again and it's coming directly from my right I turned to look to see what the noise was and it was a goat is that goat is that goat Goat! Goat! Goat! Oh, shit, Andrew. Goat sounds like a human yelling for help.

4:39Officer Story explained to the man by the barn that someone had called in worried that a human was crying for help. The man said his goat was probably crying because he'd been separated from another goat, his friend. The man said he'd recently purchased a female goat and that this goat had been left alone while he tried to introduce the other two. He wasn't happy to not be included. I think so. I think he had FOMO. A little fear of missing out. What did you report back to the station? That it was an upset goat. Anyone make any goat jokes to you when you got back to the station? Well, Phoebe, to be honest with you, I haven't heard the end of the goat jokes.

5:27They're still happening. and they're still going on as a matter of fact I think I have a figurine of a goat that's in my mailbox right now somebody put a button like the I don't know if you remember the old staple buttons that said easy they put a button that makes a goat noise every time you hit it people answer the phone when I call making a goat noise and so it's never gonna end It's not going to end, and that's all right. They took quite a good amount of ribbing. Cass Raines is the public relations coordinator for the Enid Police Department. I think there was a little toy goat that screams that was purchased and left in the report room for him.

6:15Of course, the Taylor Swift goat video got played quite a bit. Taylor Swift goat video? I mean, if you just search YouTube for Taylor Swift and Goat, they replace the vocals on one of her songs with a goat. Bleeding, that sounds like it's singing the lyrics or something.

6:51I have one The last question You bet Can you What would If you were to Imitate the goat What would it sound like Oh that's a tough one And so I don't know that my voice can go that high, but I would say it was something like, let's see. Ah! Oh, it does kind of sound like help. If you go and watch the video, you'll probably think, yeah, he was terribly off. You're a braver man than I. You did it. I wouldn't do it.

7:27Today, stories of animals. Really going for it. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal.

7:44For the past two years, our last episode of the year has been stories about animals. Last year, there was a story about a pig named Carlton, who snuck out of his yard to steal his neighbor's pumpkins, and a camel named Lucy, who escaped from a live nativity scene. There is also a story about a couple, Jimmy and Julie, that woke up in the middle of the night to find a dog in their bed. And it was not their dog. Did you wake Julie up? What was your first reaction? So I did. I think I hit her kind of in her ribs with an elbow and said, Hey, Julie, whose dog is this? And Julie hopped up and flipped on the light.

8:28and there is laying a beautiful 80-pound pit bull with jowls the size of a tiger just laying there in the bed with us. After last year's episode aired, we got an email from a listener, Allison Lewin, who told us her 9-year-old son really loved listening to these animal stories. And he became obsessed, obsessed with the pig that was stealing pumpkins. Carlton. Yes. And we must have listened to that episode 50 times. And finally, I was like, I can't listen to it one more time. Like, I couldn't recite it by heart. So I went back and I looked for any others. And I found, I think, the first one you did that had the story about the dog that was pushing kids in the river.

9:18The story about the Newfoundland in France in 1908. It's a story we can't get enough of. People noticed that the Newfoundland was saving an awful lot of children from drowning in the river. And each time he did, he was given a stake. It was later revealed that he was pushing the children into the river when no one was looking. One headline read, Dog, a Fake Hero. So we're spending weeks just listening to these two episodes over and over again. My kids are obsessed. My older one, of course, gets his little brother involved because they do everything together. Allison's younger son was six at the time.

10:00We're listening to it in the car, in the kitchen while they're having breakfast, in their bedrooms while they're changing into their pajamas, like constant. And one day we're sitting at home and my husband has these two aquariums. They're like giant aquariums filled with fish. And so we're sitting there one day and our little one starts yelling from the living room, there's a fish, there's a fish, there's a fish, daddy, come. And so, you know, my husband goes running in and there's a fish on the floor. It jumped out of the tank. And so we, my husband picks it up and he puts it back in the tank and we're, oh, you know, congratulations.

10:39You saved the fish. That was so great. Thank you for telling us. Da, da, da, da, da. The high praise for this child. And then it kept happening. Like the fish were jumping out of the tank, like not constantly, but like every two or three days, there would be a fish jumping out of the tank. And I'm like, what is going on with your fish, honey? So you would never see it happening, though? We never saw it happening. And I've got my husband, I'm like, you have to figure out what's going on with your fish. They're insane. So he's testing the water chemistry and he's adjusting their food and he is cleaning the tanks and changing out the water and all this stuff.

11:20And then it finally occurs to me, it's only happening when my youngest is in the room. Nobody else has seen this happen. And I said to my husband, I don't really want to accuse my child of, you know, animal endangerment without proof. So I had my husband dig out our old baby monitor, and I had him set it up aimed at the fish tank. And sure enough, the next night, we saw our son go over to the fish tank, reach in, pull out a fish, and then start yelling to us that there was a fish on the floor. Because every time he found these fish, he was getting praised for saving fish. Was he going in with his hand or a little net?

12:06No, his hand, which I don't even know how he was catching them. This is the child I call Determinado. If there's something he wants to do, he will find a way to make it happen. How many times do you think this happened? Somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen, I think, over the course of like two or three weeks. When you saw the footage, what did you think? I thought the kid was brilliant. I was like, oh my God, he is the splendid Newfoundland. he is endangering these fish to get praise for saving them. What did you say to him? We explained to him that we saw he was pulling them out. We explained to him that even though it was really, really funny in the podcast episode, just like it was dangerous for the kids to be pushed in the river, it was also dangerous for the fish to be out of the water and that this was not an acceptable activity for him to engage in.

13:01And he accepted that. He's like, okay, I'm caught. I'm done. You know, sometimes I wonder if this podcast is really, really touching anyone, really making any difference, if anyone's ever listening. And I think that you have confirmed someone is. My children are listening. I'm just waiting for the older one to go out and start stealing pumpkins. That's right.

13:27We've got some new ideas for Allison's kids coming up next. We'll be right back.

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16:04There was a man in Waterville, Maine named Bill Exner who could hear a mouse running around his house. He said the mouse would stare at him. After a few days of this, Bill knew he had to catch it. He decided to use a very large pickle jar. And he did get the mouse into the pickle jar. But then it jumped back out and got away. He said the mouse was very small, no bigger than his thumb. The smartest little thing I've ever seen in my life. I've never seen a mouse that smart. The next morning, Bill woke up and realized his dentures were missing from his bedside table. I'm telling you, that mouse took my teeth.

16:47I just know it. Bill got serious. His wife Shirley tried to help and their daughter and her fiancé. They used a crowbar to open up the wall where they thought the mouse had been hiding. And there, a few feet behind the heater, they found Bill's teeth. And you sterilized him for a better hour before. Oh, yeah. A little stinker. Bill did end up catching the mouse. Then I called his partner, you know, the next day. He set them up in a cage on his dining room table with wood shavings and toys. When I heard this story, it reminded me of my hamster, Judy. Judy Judge. In these Animals episodes, I've talked about some of the animals I've known in my life.

17:41Like my cat Jim, who liked to ride in the car so much that he would jump in any chance he got. without us even knowing. Once, Jim rode along with my father to the airport, and then when my father realized the cat was in the car, he put him in a cab home so he wouldn't miss his flight. But I haven't talked about Judy Judge. I got her at a pet store in Chicago. Lots of times I would put a little piece of lettuce in my pocket and carry her around places. But then one day when I went to get Judy, she was gone We looked everywhere, but the odds of finding a little hamster in a big old house were not good I'd almost given up hope There may have been a little funeral in the backyard with a very formal ceremony Whenever we had a pet funeral, we'd always make little bouquets I can't remember whether we had refreshments but then one day I heard scratching coming from behind the wall in our dining room.

18:46I knew it was Judy. We had no clue how we were going to get her out. So we called our neighbor who was a paramedic. He cut into the dining room wall. I was right there on the floor and had lined up all of her favorite foods. And then Judy popped her head out. Saved. Judy Judge wasn't long for this world but she left behind that hole in the wall of the dining room to remember her by

19:26A few years ago, Michelle Cosi's pet bird, Harry got into some trouble So Harry's actually a girl, short for Harriet it. Michelle lives in Brisbane, a city on the east coast of Australia. Harry is a galah, a type of Australian cockatoo with pink feathers. Beautiful, stunning bird. Michelle's family has raised Harry since she was a chick. She's 15 years old, but they can live to be about 85. What? Yeah, they live a super long time. Like you have to actually put them in your wills. like who's going to care for them and everything like that. Do you already know who's going to care for her? My daughter, yeah.

20:13Does she know that? Yes, she's happy to. A few years ago, Michelle's family thought they'd lost Harry. She got out of her cage one day and they couldn't find her anywhere. Straight away, doing up flyers, searching through the, you know, local streets and things like that. Because they can fly up to like 30km a day. That's almost 20 miles. Yeah, they can get quite far. To make matters worse, the family was supposed to leave on vacation in a few days. They were planning to take a cruise up the Australian coast. We had almost given up hope because it was getting to a few days past when she'd gone.

21:03and so we were pretty much just kind of getting ready to go away and we were out and about on the day before we left and I got a phone call. It was their vet who told Michelle that someone from the government wanted to talk to her about Harry. The bird had been found on a cruise ship on its way to New Zealand. About one day into the cruise, some passengers had notified a crew that they had seen a galah. And basically the crew was able to capture her and put her in a cage. And then they put her in her own room on the cruise ship. Galahs aren't native to New Zealand and are strictly forbidden from entering the country.

22:02But because Harry had a leg band and was microchipped, the ship's crew could see that she had a family and decided to try to get her home. She was going to make the whole round trip and come home to us. It sounds like she didn't just get to come home. I mean, she had her own cabin. Oh, yeah. She had like a state cabin, like top of the line, you know, access to all of the crew. And finally, she arrived back in Australia. She had to have one last biosecurity health check before she was allowed back in. All of which, actually, we had to pay for in the end. So Harry's, you know, New Zealand cruise actually cost us like$1 ,200 in health checks along the way.

22:55When Michelle and her family went to the port to pick up Harry, she was glad to see them. You know, she was super excited and chirping and tweeting and carrying on as she does. And all of her, you know, little words came up when she saw us. It was hello and scratch and kiss and all of those cute little idiosyncrasies that she has. Maybe she was trying to say, he don't try to go on a cruise again without me. Absolutely. I think she must have heard us talking about ours and said, that sounds like a great idea. I want to do that too. Was her cabin nicer than yours? Yes, it was. It was absolutely better than ours.

23:49Well, let's just start with you introducing yourself. I am Ricky Littlejohn. What do you do? I am a rodeo cowboy and a cow catcher. So I do, I catch loose cattle for people. When they get out, I've got a team of horses, a team of dogs, and I got a few guys that I hired to help me catch loose cattle. So when I'm not rodeoing, I'm usually catching cattle. And when I'm not catching cattle, I'm usually rodeoing. Earlier this year, Ricky Littlejohn got a call asking him to find and catch a cow that had been on the loose for weeks near Detroit. The cow's name was Lester, and they'd met before. I got called six weeks before that.

24:40I went and caught Lester and three other of his pasture mates. The four cows had escaped from a farm animal sanctuary. It took Ricky two days to round them all up. He put them in a trailer and pulled up to the gate of the field where they live. So I back up to the gate to let Lester off the trailer. And he comes right off the trailer, run right by his buddies and jumped over the fence. And he took off. So I called and checked in. And I ended up going home, and I checked in on them guys, I don't know, once a week or so, and nobody had heard or seen him whatsoever. And come to find out, when June kind of rolled around, I got a phone call, and by golly, it was Lester.

25:30And he made it 13 miles from where I dropped him off at. The next day, Ricky drove up to the area where Lester had been spotted. He was grazing on the grass right next to the highway on I-75. And the cops kind of got called multiple times on him. And they would show up, but every time they would show up, he'd be gone. Ricky tried to steer the cow away from the highway. But Lester had another idea. He got ahead of me and ended up jumping up on the highway. And he started running down the highway. And so I ended up running my horse down the middle of I-75. Wait a second. How fast was he going? I bet you he was running 20 to 30 mile an hour down the middle of the road.

26:20And it was hard. It was really hard for me to stay with him. And that's that my horse can't run that fast. But I have four shoes on my horse horses. And I was and like horseshoes. Were there sparks? Yeah. Yeah. Horseshoes on blacktop is like a skating rink. So we were sliding all over the place. What were people doing on the other side of the road? I mean, this must have been quite a sight. Yeah, it was quite a scene. The first three cars actually drove by us while we were running down the road, which I'm not sure why they thought that was a good idea. But really, I don't even know why I ran out there, but I just knew I could potentially save someone's life if I just did.

27:02And so that's what I did. But on the other side of the road, they finally got traffic stopped. Once the first couple of cars got stopped, the cops had their sirens on. They shut down most sides of the road, and people were out of their cars videoing me and all sorts of stuff. Ricky managed to get his lasso around Lester and tried to steer him to the partition between the two sides of the highway. And then the fight was on after that. So you lassoed him on the road? Yep, I roped him right in the middle of the road. Ricky managed to get Lester safely in his trailer and return him to the animal sanctuary.

27:37A couple of months ago, Lester's owner sent Ricky some pictures of Lester out in the pasture. So for the moment, as far as we know, he's still there. Do you use the lasso often? Every day. Almost every day. I'm either roping the dummy practicing or I'm roping a horse to catch him to go work my day job or to go rodeo or something like that. But, yes, I'm usually horse-related or cow-related every day. You know, I've always thought that any human should have certain skills. You should know how to drive a manual transmission car. You should know how to drive a stick. Absolutely. You should know how to have a basic sense of kind of if you were in a boat, how would you catch the wind and sail?