A PAIR of goats which spent four days trapped on a cliff face have found a new home from home.

The RSPCA managed to rescue the goats which had been running around Hartlepool in October last year.

Now they have the run of a specially adapted enclosure at RSPCA Southridge Animal Centre, in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.

RSPCA chief inspector Mark Gent said: “We have been trying to find a permanent home for them since we finally captured them, after four days of trying but there was virtually no one with the desire, expertise and facilities to take them on.

“They’ve been at a private boarding establishment where staff have been doing a lot of work to try to bring them around but they are still extremely difficult to manage.

“They are big animals with large horns who run at people and have shown a strong dedication to escaping where they’re housed.

“Southridge do have experience of dealing with unhandled goats like these and have committed to looking after them."

Officers were called about the goats after they were spotted down the side of a cliff but after an initial attempt to rescue them, they moved further down the coastline the following day and into a large expanse of open land on the cliff side. They were finally captured after being confined in a Hartlepool alleyway.

Chief Inspector Gent said: “There is no doubt in my mind that these goats have been kept somewhere where they have had little human contact all of their lives before being either dumped or allowed to stray.

“This reckless and irresponsible act could have caused the goats injury or death, and they themselves posed a real and significant risk to the public.

“Whilst I am very happy to say there is a happy ending for these goats, this is yet another example of an irresponsible owner abandoning their animals for charities and public services to deal with and this has come at a great financial cost to the RSPCA.”