NEWS

Goat raffle halted; store cited

Robin Gibson
rgibson@muncie.gannett.com
  • Rual King in violation of city ordinance for raffling off a goat as a prize

MUNCIE – A raffle offering a young goat as the prize, intended to raise money for local 4-H programs, was halted on Wednesday when the store was cited for violating a city ordinance with the event.

The Muncie Rural King had been selling tickets for $1 at least since last week, offering chances to win Ernie, a 3-month-old boer goat buck, with the money raised going to a 4-H program. Participants in the raffle who just wanted to donate could check a box indicating if they wanted to give money for 4-H but were not interested in taking the goat if they won.

The small brown goat was being kept in a large pen just inside the doors of the store, with signs about the raffle and a bucket of tickets displayed on the sides of the pen.

Contacted by The Star Press on Wednesday for information about city ordinances regarding livestock in city limits, Muncie Animal Shelter/Animal Control Director Phil Peckinpaugh said he had not been aware of the raffle, which could be in violation of an ordinance forbidding giving away live animals as prizes.

Peckinpaugh went out to Rural King, and ended up citing the business for raffling a live animal, a citation that carried a $100 fine. Although the ordinance does include an exception for "4-H auctions and/or charity fundraisers," Peckinpaugh told The Star Press that did not apply in this case because, although Rural King said it intended to donate the funds to 4-H, it was not officially affiliated with 4-H and had not made arrangements with 4-H beforehand.

Though it's not something animal control would enforce, Peckinpaugh also told The Star Press the fundraiser could be in violation of state laws regarding raffles.

While Peckinpaugh was still in the store, staffers put the goat on a leash and carried it out to the back of a waiting pickup truck in front of the store. Peckinpaugh said afterward the goat was reportedly being taken back to the farm from which it had come.

"I think that their intent was noble," Peckinpaugh said, but added that, "Rules are rules." The issue, he said, was that someone who was not prepared to care for an animal — or who lived in the city and would not be allowed to keep livestock on their property — potentially could win the animal.

(Peckinpaugh also found the Rural King in violation of rules against selling live animals without the necessary permit. The store has 10 days to get a permit to continue selling animals such as chicks, turkeys and rabbits before it would face a fine, he said.)

The raffle had prompted an earlier inquiry from the Animal Rescue Fund, and subsequent backlash from people on both sides of the animal-rights-vs.-livestock question over the weekend and earlier this week.

ARF Co-Director Dana Salkoski visited Rural King on Saturday and Monday after hearing complaints from people about the goat raffle. She offered to buy the goat for $100 that the store could use toward something else to raffle off for 4-H, but was told the raffle had already raised about $600 and would continue, she said.

When she asked whether the store could make sure whoever won the goat could take care of it, she added, she was told organizers expected people with farms to be the likeliest ones to enter the raffle.

ARF founder Terri Panszi noted the issue hit home particularly hard for ARF since the group had rescued and cared for a goat and eight lambs earlier this year.

Posts about the matter on ARF's Facebook page prompted responses from people who shared the group's concerns about offering a live animal as a prize, and from people who wrote in strong support of the raffle and its cause — and in some cases were sharply critical of any efforts to halt the raffle.

Salkoski emphasized that ARF officials had no problem with 4-H or farmers: "The problem we have is they're raffling off a live animal to they-don't-know-who."

Contacted by The Star Press, local and corporate-level Rural King officials declined to comment on the raffle and declined to allow The Star Press to take photographs of the goat inside their store.

Joel Brumley, director of the Delaware County Extension Office, said he first heard about the raffle on behalf of 4-H programming last Thursday, and had subsequently heard from people concerned about it as well. Noting that the extension office is an research-based, educational entity and tries to steer clear of controversy, he said he had offered to put the winner of the raffle in touch with local 4-H goat leaders if they needed help.

Notified on Wednesday afternoon that the raffle had been shut down and the goat sent back to his original farm, Salkoski said she was happy to hear the raffle was off, but wasn't sure what would happen to the goat now. "I hope that he'll lead a happy little goat life," she said, but added, "I don't know what his fate will be now."

As for the fate of the funds given for raffle tickets thus far, with the raffle's prize removed, Peckinpaugh said the Rural King manager had asked him what to do about that; Peckinpaugh advised him to call everyone who'd bought a ticket to ask if they wanted their money back.

Contact news reporter Robin Gibson at (765) 213-5855 and follow her on Twitter at @RobinGibsonTSP