This is the opposite of nominative determinism, right? — Dan

It’s not uncommon for towns, schools, or other groups to adopt an animal as a mascot. In most cases, they’ll choose an animal local to them — Baltimore’s baseball team is the Orioles because those birds are common in Maryland, for example. But that’s not always the case. Take, for example, the goat pictured above. As of a few years ago, he was the unofficial mascot of Fairbanks, Alaska — a place where goats aren’t native. For him to aspire to fame, he needed to do something special.

And he did: he ran. Fast.

In October 2019, the city of Fairbanks was in a tizzy because the goat seen above was running through its streets, “dodging cars near a local freeway” according to a Facebook post by the Alaska State Troopers,” and generally causing chaos. The “very fast goat,” as the local animal control board described it, was particularly hard to nab, to the point that the police enlisted local townspeople to help determine the location of the animals. For the next two days, residents of Fairbanks treated the chase like a citywide game of Where's Waldo, posting sightings and updates as the fugitive hoofed his way through town. As the Anchorage Daily News reported, Facebook users who followed the saga gave him a name: Curry.

The chase came to an end the following night when some Good Samaritans spotted Curry near a road, where he had been jumping into traffic. They managed to grab him, and Alaska State Troopers transported the animal to the borough's animal shelter. Assuming that the goat was just someone’s pet or a local farm animal, Curry was placed in the drop-off cages overnight and given breakfast the next morning — with the expectation that its owner would just pick him and take him home.

But the next day, Paul Finch, the goat's owner, came to bail Curry out — and the true identity of the animal came to light. He wasn’t a pet — he was livestock, destined for the slaughterhouse and ultimately, someone’s plate. The people of Fairbanks weren’t keen on that outcome. The hashtag #FreeCurry had spread across social media. People were rooting for this goat — a goat who had, quite literally, fled his own execution. As Finch told a local TV station, "Everybody is rooting for the goat, and everybody wants to see the goat do good, because somehow it might be partly their story."

Finch, who works in addiction recovery services, saw an opportunity. Curry had been arrested. He'd been in jail. And now he was getting a second chance. "I believe that he would be a great mascot for the reentry coalition or the reentry process for people reentering after incarceration," Finch said. He brought Curry to The Bridge, a Fairbanks organization that provides employment and peer support for people affected by opioid use disorder. As the Seattle Times reported, The Bridge announced the adoption on its Facebook page with a simple message: "Welcome Curry the goat as the Bridge's new mascot! We are going to reintegrate him to society."

The organization launched an online fundraiser with a goal of $5,000 to cover Curry's needs, and a local coffee shop began selling Curry stickers to raise money for The Bridge. Finch, meanwhile, asked the borough mayor to officially pardon Curry — a ceremonial gesture, sure, but a fitting one for a goat whose escape from the dinner table turned into a story about redemption.

Curry was no longer livestock. He was a symbol — and most definitely, not someone’s dinner.

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Today’s Bonus fact: Vikings believe that, when you leave this plane of existence, you go to Valhalla — effectively, the Viking version of heaven. And as Vine Pair explains, there’s an “endless supply of beer” waiting for you there. But there’s a downside — the beer doesn’t come out of taps or kegs. It comes from “the udders of a magical goat.”

From the Archives: The Judas Goat: Goats can be an invasive species, and here was a creative way to get their population under control.

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And thanks! — Dan