Bleating neighbours turn boy's treat into a nightmare

A young Cape Town boy's dream of having a party with a petting zoo turned into a nightmare on Saturday when some residents mistakenly thought a bleating dwarf goat tied to a tree was being slaughtered.

Believing some kind of macabre ritual was taking place in the Woodstock park, a woman took to social media to raise the alarm.

"Did call SPCA but scared. Drove away but I am hysterical,'' Megan Furniss wrote on Facebook.

Jennifer Bradley agreed the goat was slain in the park: "I am sure that goat was slaughtered," she posted.

Both the SPCA and the police were called.

But then father Siraj Waggie, 36, posted on Facebook, reassuring everyone that the goat was part of a petting zoo hired to celebrate his seven-year-old son's birthday.

"It was his idea to do the petting zoo. He loves animals. We are always at petting farms. Whenever it is a holiday we go to a farm with him," said Waggie, adding that the concerned animal lovers should have asked him what was going on.

Waggie, who has been living in the area for three years, said he chose not to react aggressively, instead deciding to put the ''hilarious'' incident behind him.

A "deeply sorry" Furniss later posted an apology, the Mail & Guardian reported.

"I am beyond devastated that I have hurt people and caused pain and outrage. Please accept my humble apology,'' she wrote.