Milford Animal Control is investigating after a beloved pet goat in Orange was killed by a pack of dogs running loose over the weekend.

Police were called to a home on Chestnut Ridge Road on Sunday after a call from the owners of the goat.

The goat, named Diesel, was known as “the old grandpa,” according to Michele Margenau -- an appropriate name given the family’s three other much younger goats, including two babies.

“He was our pet for 17 years,” Margenau told News 12.

Margenau said on Sunday morning, her husband arrived through the back of the barn like usual to see what the goats were up to.

“Our three other goats were in the stall kind of huddled quietly in a corner, which for them to be quiet, as you can tell, is not the norm,” she explained.

She said then he heard a dog bark and went to the enclosure.

“Three pit bulls were right there, and Diesel was already gone. They'd already attacked him,” Margenau recalled.

Margenau said things could've been even worse. One of the other goats usually shared the front pen with Diesel, but Saturday was the first night she was with the new baby goats in the back pen. Margenau said she believes the dogs found a weak spot in the fence and were able to get under it. 

“They had no collars, no microchip,” she said of the dogs, who Milford Animal Control captured and is now caring for. “Our guess is that they were dumped. They were still really healthy. They were strong dogs. They did not kill to eat.”

Animal control officers are trying to find the dogs’ owner and confirm how they came to be running free. So far, no one has come forward. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 203-783-3279.