Facebook is not just good for birthdays and baby pictures. Last month, in the wilds of western Baltimore County, Facebook helped save a stray goat.

Gracie the goat’s social media adventure began in late September, when Windsor Mill residents reported seeing a honey-colored caprine animal in the woods. Upon closer examination, Gracie was not a wayward pet; she was a Boer — 100 pounds of tendons and muscles most often bred for meat. She wore an auction tag, indicating that she had been destined for a dinner plate. She may have escaped from the auction and landed in the woods, or her owners dumped her there because she didn’t sell and they no longer wanted to feed her. But regardless of how she ended up in Windsor Mill in northwestern Baltimore County, she would not survive there long.

Goats are allergic to many common suburban shrubs, like azaleas and rhododendrons. Cars barreling down Liberty Road could hit her; coyotes or foxes might eat her. Goats also don’t like the rain, and, as a ruminant species, they need the proper hay to stay healthy. Neighborhood Facebook pages alerted the larger animal community, and Bob Swensen stepped up.

Swensen runs the Lost Animal Resource Group; he and his partner, Denise Harris, have rescued 500 cats, more than 1,000 dogs, and one pig. Never a goat, though.

He and a resident set out in an ATV to find Gracie, but she had decided she’d rather hang out in one of the neighborhood driveways to watch her reflection in the screen door. After trying to trap her for a week, Swensen turned back to Facebook and asked: Does anyone here know how to catch a goat?

Turns out, some people did. Lure her into the trap with poison ivy. Or try strawberry Fig Newtons. Or Dunkin’ Donut holes. Or, since she likes looking at herself, make the trap reflective. Or find another goat to lead her in, because they like to travel in pairs.

Swensen followed the crowd-sourced advice and almost got his goat a few times, but then something would go wrong. Once a contractor dropped some equipment and scared her. Another time, an animal control officer scared her farther into the woods. But finally, Debbie Sharp and Joe Campayno of Sparky Hollow Farm reached out on Facebook and offered to come by with their goat, Dunkin. Gracie was immediately interested in the handsome, Dalmatian-patterned Dunkin, but he ignored her.

As Swensen documented the attempted rescue on Facebook with videos and photos, readers offered more suggestions. With Dunkin distracting Gracie, she dipped her head into a bucket of oats.

“There was a clear shot,” Swensen recalled. Joe Campayno grabbed Gracie by the horns, and Swensen was able to lasso her, and then sat on her. Goats, especially feral ones like Gracie, can be aggressive. They have pointy horns and charge when they feel threatened, which as you might expect is when a stranger is trying to lasso them.

“She tried to run, and I just held on for dear life. After all we went through, I was not letting her go,” Swensen said.

Swensen posted on Facebook that he planned to take Gracie to Baltimore County Animal Services in Baldwin. All rescued animals in the county must go there for a three-day hold.

Kim Mendez saw the post and immediately worried about a goat in a farm-less shelter. Gracie wouldn’t do well there, she reasoned. Indeed, Abby Isaacs, the shelter’s communications manager, said it had been so long since the facility had taken in a goat that staff had to go to a farm store to find food for Gracie.

Mendez tagged her friend Aimee Darling, a human resources specialist who runs a nonprofit rescue, Old McDarling’s Farm Rescue & Sanctuary, Inc., in Southern Maryland. Run entirely by donations, it’s one of the few livestock rescue operations in the region and has kept many animals safe on a shoestring budget. A self-described “dog person” who rescues many different breeds, Mendez knew nothing about goats. But she knew Aimee kept several and had a network of goat gurus.

Immediately, Darling sent in paperwork to pull Gracie out for a rescue and keep her safe. Darling has worked with other counties, including Anne Arundel and Prince George’s. But because it was her first time working with the Baltimore County shelter, Darling anticipated some hiccups in her approval process. County staff worked quickly, though; they didn’t want Gracie to stay any longer than necessary and suffer stress.

On Oct. 2, the shelter hold ended. Swensen, Mendez and Darling moved off Facebook messages to a group chat to organize the transfer.

Swensen loaded Gracie into his Toyota sedan and drove her to meet Mendez at a Royal Farms near Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. With Darling providing instructions by phone, they transferred her into Mendez’s truck for the 90-minute drive south.

“She started to doze off,” Mendez said. “I talked to her the whole ride. I told her she had to be good for a new mom. I told her all the things I would tell a dog. ‘You’re going to be safe now.’ She seemed so sweet.”

At Old McDarling’s, the women coaxed Gracie out of the truck, and Darling evaluated her. Gracie, she guesses, is about 8 years old, middle age for goats. Judging by her stretched-out udders, Darling said she was a “baby making machine,” likely part of a large herd that got “nothing more than she needed” to make babies for her owners. And then, when they no longer needed her, those owners put her out to pasture — or in her case, a suburban woodland. Darling sees it all the time; that’s one reason Gracie is her 46th rescued goat.

“There is this idea that goats are ‘just livestock.’ They don’t have value beyond what they can produce. And that is so not true,” she said. “Every single one has a personality. They may be goats, but they’re people here.”

A week in, Gracie has joined Mrs. Parker, Larry and Nana and other goat pals following Darling around her Lusby farm. She’s getting more comfortable with human touch, something she rarely knew before. She’s officially, happily retired. And Darling is updating her Facebook followers with photos, videos, and observations about her herd’s newest addition, Queen Gracie.

“She doesn’t have to make babies anymore,” Darling said. “She’s free now to just to be herself.”

This story has been updated to include the full name of the nonprofit rescue, Old McDarling’s Farm Rescue & Sanctuary, Inc. It has also been updated to clarify that rescue organizations don't "adopt" animals, but instead pull animals from shelters to keep them safe.