New Jersey woman quits her job to take care of goats in need


She started off by adopting a few healthy baby goats, and before she knew it, Leanne Lauricella had quit her job as a corporate event planner in New York City to raise more than 40 goats, including several with disabilities.
"Some people have special needs goats that are a few years old and want us to take them," the Clinton Township, New Jersey, resident told USA Today. "But if they're a few years old, they made it this far because they've had good care. We take the ones that will die if we don't take them." Many of the goats have been rescued from slaughterhouses, and the healthy ones cavort outside and in a barn, while the goats that need some extra care live inside Lauricella's home, where she bottle feeds them and makes sure they are comfortable. They are all different breeds, she said, but they get along, and many have been sent to her from out of state.
Lauricella raises money online to take care of the goats, with many donations coming in via her Instagram page, Goats of Anarchy, which has 400,000 followers. She enjoys snapping pictures of her brood, and she plans on using proceeds from her upcoming photography book to buy a bigger facility. "I haven't exactly told my husband yet," Lauricella said. "But I think he knows." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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