We reported on a ram that attacked foreign hikers up near Trevélez in the Alpujarra.

You can read about it following this link but the point is that apparently not one of the three victims (two Belgian men and a Dutch woman) were able to describe to the Guardia Civil officers what kind of animal it was.

One of them spoke of a ram and another a mountain goat and one was convinced that it was a billy goat.

Rather than an inability to tell what sort of animal it was, the confusion was probably down to a lack of language skills both on the part of the victims and the Guardia Civil officers. We don’t know.

After the incident the mountain-rescue HQ received a video from a hiking-circuit agency for tourists, which the victims had used on the day. It showed a small herd of goats, including a billy goat in the photo above (a still from the video). The video was from the previous day to the incident. The Dutch woman thought she recognised the culprit when shown the video.

However locals in Trevélez, especially goat herders, doubt that it could have been a billy goat or that an attack had even taken place. We wouldn’t say that mountain goats and farmers hang out in the same bars but they are accustomed to coming across each other out in the hills.

One thing that locals are sure about is that nobody has any sheep, so it couldn’t have been a ram, explained the Mayor, Adrián Gallegos Segura. With a surname that translates into “Safe or Sure,” you can be sure he knows what he’s talking about, right?

What’s more, the only herder in the Río Culo Perro ( Dog’s Arse River) area told the Guardia Civil officers that the only domesticated goats in the area are on the other side of the hill, which is a 3-day camel trek and a packed lunch away, he  pointed out, although not in those terms, of course.

Well, the victims haven’t registered a denuncia and nobody else has been attacked by a ram, billy goat or a chupacabra, for that matter.

(News: Trevélez, Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)