Newborn goat found abandoned on Essex industrial estate

The baby goat is now being hand-reared by South Essex Wildlife Hospital

A newborn goat is receiving urgent care after she was found abandoned in an industrial estate in Essex.

Workers at the Eastways industrial estate in Witham discovered the kid on 16 March after earlier spotting a stray adult roaming behind units.

The animal was collected by the RSPCA and taken to a local vet where she was checked over and fed.

She has been named Jill, after the nursery rhyme, because she tumbled down a hill after birth, the RSPCA said.

RSPCA animal rescue operator Rebecca Yarrow said the goat gave birth minutes after she was seen, but was "spooked and ran away".

The baby goat is now in the care of South Essex Wildlife Hospital in Grays, where she will be hand-reared and bottle-fed.

Ms Yarrow said it was "an unusual story" and it was possible the mother was an escaped or abandoned pet. She has not been found.

"She somehow made her way to the industrial estate, possibly because she knew she was going to give birth imminently and was looking for somewhere quiet and out of the way," she said.

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