How a 3-legged goat is learning to use a wheelchair
The 7-year-old goat had gone from helping people in bereavement and children with cerebral palsy to needing help moving around. People moved by his story in The Inquirer responded with generosity.
From losing a leg to a parasitic infection that almost took his life to getting temporarily cast out by his herd, Ray the Nubian goat had a rough 2025. Loving volunteers and a wheelchair might make for an improved 2026.
In October, the Philly Goat Project, an East Germantown nonprofit that provides community wellness through nature connection, shared Ray’s story with The Inquirer.
The 7-year-old goat had gone from helping people in bereavement and children with cerebral palsy at Awbury Arboretum to needing help moving around. Readers showed up for the middle-aged ruminant, donating enough for Ray to get his wheelchair and have physical therapy.
On a recent cold Monday morning, Ray eagerly awaited his rehabilitation, standing strong on three legs and eating orange peels out of volunteer Jay Tinkleman’s hand.
“It’s amazing what he has been through,” Tinkleman said, kissing Ray’s forehead. “He seems more confident now, a little stronger, and the other goats don’t pick on him like they used to at first, so I think they sense that he is stronger.”
Casey Buckley, who runs Ray’s physical therapy, agrees with Tinkleman, but said the friendly goat still has a long way to go.
These days, Ray is an ambulatory wheelchair user. He can move with or without a wheelchair, but needs it for long strolls, an important part of goat life.
“His rehab is a lifelong process,” Buckley said. “The goal is that on long walks, where he might not be able to go, he can use the wheelchair, but we just have to take it day by day.”
Ray might not fully agree. Once the first of his nine exercises began, he was ready to go.
“Slow down!” Leslie Jackson, director of operations at Philly Goat Project, told Ray on multiple occasions.
Neck stretches side to side, he aced it. Getting rocked back and forth to get the core strength humans get when doing crunches, no problem. Elevating his two front hooves on a table, while balancing on his third leg, to practice climbing the Philly Goat Project van “Vangoat,” easy.
Then came the orange cone course. Ray flew through it only to be stopped by Jackson right before the ending.
“No, no, no cheating, back, back,” Jackson told him upon realizing, in his speed, Ray had missed a line.
He tried again and again, but his last paw kept missing a line of cones. He bumped Jackson’s arm softly, perhaps looking for a comforting treat.
“We will do it together, teamwork makes the dream work,” Jackson told Ray, as Tinkleman and Buckley rallied around them to help line up the cones for another try. And shortly, to Ray, victory tasted like orange peels.
After 30 minutes of PT, he was ready to practice walking around in his wheelchair.
It took all three to get Ray into the chair. Tinkleman petted Ray’s head, keeping him calm. Jackson lifted the back of his body. And Buckley placed the metal contraption around Ray, making sure there was a wheel on each side, securing the black belt, and placing two soft sponges under the hip where his fourth leg used to be.
“He is not afraid of it, he doesn’t run from it,” Jackson said as Ray took off walking faster than before, no hopping or dragging. A milestone for the team that had been working for Ray to walk with his chair instead of feeling like he had to drag it.
Belly full of treats, the jolly goat led the group to the barn where his 11 goat friends and brother Teddy rested after returning from one of their long walks.
In time, the team hopes that the chair will help Ray join in once again. They are practicing having Teddy walk next to Ray in his wheelchair, keeping enough space for the wheels not to run over Teddy’s hooves.
Until then, Jackson feels grateful for Ray’s resilience and the big hearts that have helped him along the way.
“You don’t give up on a teammate, you try to help them through,” Jackson said. “Without the people who responded from The Inquirer [article], and our friends and family and fans, this would not be possible; he would not be getting stronger without a trainer, without a professional wheelchair. It’s a community effort.”