We’ll Bring You a Banana

From the moment we met him in the carpark of a petrol station 13 years ago—tiny, bright-eyed, and wearing the most adorable brown “boots”—we knew he was someone special. Found by our friends at Vic Dog Rescue while on a run to collect death-row-bound dogs from a remote rural town, this teeny Boer goat had already charmed everyone on his way to us.

And from that day on, we never—not ever—regretted saying yes to him.

Boots—or, better known to his buddies as Bootsie—was the kind of soul who made friends with everyone and enemies with no one.

He leapt (literally) into our lives with the wild glee of a Mexican jumping bean and the cuddliness of a teddy bear. His parkour antics became the stuff of sanctuary legend—and many a video capture—bouncing off trees, ricocheting off humans, landing in hearts, and exploring handbags with expert flair.

While the world knows that curly upper-lip gesture of goats as the flehmen response, we know it as the Boots face—his signature move that delighted our hearts as much as our smells surely delighted his.

He had a gift—not just for making us laugh, but for reminding us what joy looks like in its purest, most playful form. He taught us to make every day count, to be the reason someone smiles—and that someone should always include yourself.

But, as we know all too well, good things on this earth come to an end—and that includes our animal friends.

Bootsie’s final chapter came with the quiet kind of knowing only animals seem to carry. After a brave battle with kidney disease, he told us—in the gentlest way—that his time had come. Not even his beloved bananas could tempt him on that last day.

And as he stepped into a stall in our barn and lay down in a bed of golden straw—a soft and comfy bed fit for the Prince of Hearts that he was—he let out a little sigh. A tear-jerking breath that said: It’s okay. I’m ready.

We weren’t. How could we be?

Helping him pass was the hardest kindness we could offer. But he met it, as he met all of life—calm, surrounded by love, with a little flehmen tucked away in memory.

Bootsie leaves behind a wardrobe-sized hole in our hearts and a lifetime of stories that make us laugh, cry, and feel. To say he was “just a goat” somehow sells his awesomeness short. He was a reminder that all beings are worthy of love, dignity—and a little adventure.

So walk on, little buddy. Walk on.
And please know this: we’ll see you again.

P.S. We’ll bring you a banana.