Watch: Hundreds of goats escape, tear through Issaquah neighborhood

About 200 bah-bah bandits took off on hoof and ran through the Issaquah Highlands Tuesday evening before they were corralled by a herder and a border collie named Nessie.

The goats had spent about three weeks in the Issaquah Highlands eating vegetation on slopes that are difficult for machines to get to, said Craig Madsen, owner of Healing Hooves Natural Vegetation Management. Madsen thinks one goat hit another goat and knocked over a fence around 6 p.m. That set off the escape.

And when one goat goes, he added, they all go.

“Goats are goats,” he said. “They’re not like a machine you can turn on and off. They have a mind of their own.”

A YouTube video posted by a resident shows the goats running along 33^rd Avenue Northeast, accompanied by at least one very excited-looking dog. Some of the goats stop in front of the houses and start eating grass, bushes and plants.

The goats stopped near a strip of vegetation about a quarter-mile from where they were working, Madsen said. He was able to corral most of them to a nearby dog park and into a trailer.

Madsen said he thinks he should have moved them to their new grassy area that evening instead of waiting until the morning, like he had planned.

“I should have done it that evening,” he said. “They were getting a little more antsy.”