‘Why would they get on a bus?’ KIRO host skeptical of Portland’s viral bus-riding goats

Two pygmy goats who boarded a Portland bus last week have become the Pacific Northwest’s latest viral sensation, and KIRO fill-in hosts Angela Poe Russell and Jim Dever had plenty to say about it.

Billy the Kid and Billy the Goat escaped from their Southeast Portland yard and wandered more than a quarter-mile before hopping onto a TriMet FX2-Division bus, according to KPTV. Surveillance video, posted by TriMet on Instagram, shows the pair briefly boarding the bus before a passenger shooed them back into the street.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by TriMet (@trimet)

‘You don’t shoo animals into city traffic’: Jim Dever defends goats

Dever called the goats the Pacific Northwest’s newest animal heroes and said the passenger who kicked them off the bus was out of line.

“You don’t shoo animals into city traffic just because you don’t want them on your bus,” Dever said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “You either let them ride along with you, and you show them a good time, or you get off the bus with them, and you babysit them until they can get to safety.”

KIRO producer Joe Wallace agreed the goats weren’t the worst thing on that bus.

“There are worse things on that bus, I guarantee you,” Wallace said.

The goats’ owner, L’Rae Anderson, told reporters the pair are “escape artists” who regularly get out of their yard. Dever wasn’t entirely sympathetic.

“Maybe L’Rae doesn’t have a great fencing technique for his yard,” Dever said.

Angela Poe Russell questions whether the goats were planted

Angela Poe Russell wasn’t buying the story at all, questioning whether the whole thing was staged.

“Goats are into grass. Why would they get on a bus?” she said.

“Because, have you been to Portland? There’s a lot of grass on those buses, know what I’m saying?” Dever quipped.

Russell remained skeptical.

“I’m still not buying they just happened to get on the bus,” she said. “You don’t think someone planted them there?”

Wallace said the surveillance video speaks for itself.

“They were just wandering around,” he said.

TriMet cashes in on the goats

The goats’ brief commute has since gone massively viral, attracting millions of views across social media. TriMet is now cashing in on the moment, selling “TriMet is Goated” T-shirts for $35, with proceeds going toward supporting public transit, according to The Oregonian.

“I guess because you can’t make a lot of money from passengers paying to ride buses anymore, so now you sell T-shirts!” Dever said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow