Goat Autopsy

So, I mentioned the other day that the vet came out to the site and we did a goat autopsy. We had a goat at the site that was turning wide circles and everyone was under the impression that she was on the way out of this world. The vet thought that maybe it had a cyst in its brain and wanted to kill it and do an autopsy on it to see if that were true and if otherwise the meat was safe to eat. Muslims will not eat meat that has not been killed and had the blood drained properly, so if an animal dies without being killed it is a waste of meat. We wanted to kill this goat, see what was causing it to turn circles, and then determine if the meat was otherwise safe so in future situations like this we would know what to do with the goat.

Our guard graciously killed the goat for us (no biggie for him) and we agreed to give him the meat if everything turned out okay. When it was all said and done, the vet cut open the brain and indeed found a fairly large tapeworm cyst inside of it. There weren’t any other visible cysts on the body, so the theory was that the cyst got in the brain (we don’t really know how) and put pressure on the brain causing the goat to turn in circles and would have eventually killed it, had we not done it first. The meat was unaffected, so now we know in future situations that the meat is safe and we can allow the goat site workers to kill it before it dies so that they are able to benefit from the meat. This was my first goat autopsy and while it was interesting, I’m not sure I am dying to do another anytime soon.

I have a link to the video here, but before you click it, I must warn you that it is not G rated. I started filming about 3 minutes after the neck was cut and filmed through the whole skinning and removing of the insides right up until we took the brain out of the skull. Don’t watch it if you don’t enjoy that kind of stuff. However, it is very educational and shows a very good view of the ruminant stomach, the heart, lungs, and kidneys, as well as the brain. I’m warning you now though, it’s gross!

The vultures hanging out waiting for our finished product

The cyst we found in the brain is on the right side