Goats stolen from Milwaukee nonprofit: 'It's been devastating'

MILWAUKEE - Goats were stolen from a Milwaukee nonprofit. Now, dead goats have been found along the Milwaukee River. Are the two connected?

"It's been devastating," said Tamahl Hazelwood, Director of Programs for Our Next Generation. "They must've jumped this fence from the west side of the building."

Four baby goats were taken from the program's lot in mid-July. 

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"My goats are all white, they have horns, a tag on their tail bone and that would be a great identifier," Hazelwood said.  

Hazelwood said the goats were used to teach students about responsibility. 

"We usually have between five and seven goats on the premises. Those goats range from anywhere from a baby all the way up to an adult," Hazelwood said. 

Two of the four missing goats were found alive with the help of police and the community. But Hazelwood said they have started to receive unexpected tips from social media. 

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"We have community members that have been reaching out and letting us know that they found some goats actually dead by the riverside," Hazelwood said. 

A Riverwest Facebook group posted finding dead goats with their necks slit in the river. That grabbed the attention of many online.

"I will be going down there just to kind of take a look that will probably help us," Hazelwood said. 

For now, Hazelwood is staying hopeful. 

"We remain optimistic about the chances of retrieving those goats back," Hazelwood said. 

FOX6 News does not know for sure that the thefts and goat deaths are related. We did reach out to the Wisconsin DNR and the Milwaukee Police Department, but have yet to get a response.