Escaped goat rejoins herd after three months

MacGyver the goat (right) had been missing for three months

An escaped goat has made a surprise return to its herd after a three-month absence.

The runaway animal, nicknamed MacGyver, went missing from a nature reserve at Wouldham Common, near Rochester, in Kent, after jumping a fence into woods.

Despite sustained efforts by rangers and volunteers to find it the goat had "outsmarted all attempts to reunite him with his herd", according to Kent Wildlife Trust.

A spokesperson described the surprise reappearance as "a Christmas miracle" with the creature looking "healthy and unscathed".

The wildlife charity have now dubbed MacGyver "the goat of Christmas past".

Wouldham Common, a nature reserve managed by Kent Wildlife Trust and closed to the public, practices conservation grazing to maintain biodiversity.

MacGyver is part of a herd of Old English-type goats tasked with naturally controlling dominant plants and scrub through grazing, helping to enhance the reserve's chalk grassland.