PA Turnpike and Dept. of Transportation Nab PETA Awards for Goat Rescue

Engineers Used Snooper Crane to Reach Animals Stranded 100 Feet in the Air

For Immediate Release:
April 17, 2018

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

A Compassionate Action Award is on its way from PETA to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), which came to the rescue of two goats stranded on an 8-inch-wide beam on the 109-foot-high Mahoning River Bridge on April 3. With assistance from turnpike officials, a team of civil engineers from PennDOT used a snooper crane to reach the goats, who had been stranded for 18 hours and were about 200 feet from the riverbank. Once one goat had been scooped up, the other was able to walk off the beam to safety.

“To these frightened goats, the brave and creative engineers of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation were the ‘greatest of all time,’” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA hopes their story will inspire people everywhere to act when animals are in danger, whether by helping them directly or contacting someone else who can.”

The Pennsylvania Turnpike and PennDOT will each receive a framed certificate and a box of delicious vegan cookies. PETA will also send individual certificates of appreciation to the four members of the PennDOT rescue team: Steve McCarthy, Jeff Shulkosky, Tim Wilson, and Steve Cochran.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—offers tips for reporting cruelty to animals and helping animals in danger on its website.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.