Judas goat
From Wikinfo
The Judas goat is ranching and livestock technique of moving flocks of domesticated herd animals using a trusted similar herd animal to lead the unsuspecting animals to their doom. The essence of this term and act is one of betrayal and treachery hence the adjective of "Judas" so named by the infamy of Judas Iscariot who betrayed his religious teacher Jesus Christ to the Jewish authorities which lead to the death of the betrayed one.
A Judas goat is used in livestock yards to lead other animals, usually sheep, into the slaughterhouse. By analogy, this term is also applied to humans who betray or lead others into harm.
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Background
The sociology of domestic sheep and goats are important to understand for the concept of the Judas goat.
Though domestic sheep are somewhat intelligent, sheep are seen as the dumbest of the domesticated herd animals due to their skittishness and flocking behavior. Furthermore, they are easy targets for predators and theivery. In the wild, sheep are led by the rams, a male sheep, in small herds but under human domestication, sheep need to be led. Throughout history, this is done by either human shepards or by goats or by some other animal. Domesticated sheep are notorious for mass suicide if left to themselves by any natural defiles or cliffs especially when in mountainous terrain. Once spooked, whole flocks can be lost. Lightning is one factor in their proclivity for mass suicide. Another is the presence of predators. For example, in their flocking tendency, they follow the leader and if and when one spooked sheep falls off a cliff, the rest will follow unhesitantly. Hence, the need for flocks of sheep to have more intelligent guidance.
This is where goats come in. They are intelligent and more individualistic (though still a communal animal) than sheep. The goat is a more careful and slower animal. Consequently, goats are perfect lead animals for sheparding operations.
Livestock operations
In livestock operations, Judas goats are inserted into pens of sheep. After a period of familiarization where the sheep become bonded with the goat, a gate to a chute is opened and the Judas goat does his job by leading the sheep down the chute. In pens, if humans attempt to move sheep, they normally will run frantically in circles without thinking to exit from the pen. On the other hand, the Judas goat does this job with calmness and efficiency.
Once the Judas goat nears the slaughterhouse, another gate quickly opens in the chute, and while the goat exits, the gate is closed behind him, and the sheep continue on their course.
This technique is also used in cow stockyards but with the Judas goat being a cow instead of a goat.
Feral goat eradication programs
The technique of the Judas goat is also used in Australia in order to eradicate feral goats. It uses the comunal tendency of goats which will naturally gather to one another.
A trained domesticated goat is fitted with a radio transmitter and trucked to an area with feral goats and is then released. It naturally hones onto others in the area. In two or three weeks, hunters with radio receptors go back into the area and in tracking the Judas goat find all their targets in one concise area. Then, the goats are shot including the Judas goat and the radio transmitter retrieved.
Human sphere
As is noted above, the term "Judas goat" derives from an actual human activity in human history. Throughout history, humans have been comparing themselves to animals and anthropologing animals. Humans can be said to act like their animal counterparts. In the Christian milieu, sheep is used as a metaphor for humans. It is then prescient to think that the paradigm of the Judas goat can be applied to human activity of betrayal or treason.
Many American constitutionalists and patriots have applied this term to alleged members of the Unseen Hand. Malachi Martin in his Keys to this Blood has a chapter on the Judas complex within the Catholic Church and that many clergy with their ulterior motives are leading their faithful astray.
Miscellania
- In a method of hunting, the American Indian used the flocking technique of buffalo to their advantage by having the buffalo charge off cliffs or defiles to their deaths so large amount of meat and hides could be collected without much effort.
