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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Unicorn in the Garden
Message-ID: <1182@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 16-Apr-85 08:48:46 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.1182
Posted: Tue Apr 16 08:48:46 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Apr-85 01:32:10 EST
References: <299@philabs.UUCP>, <1327@reed.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 48

In regards to the Unicorn flap now taking over the
New York area news, here is a little background (way back).

During the middle ages, it was common practice to for
sheep herders to use goats (as it is today) as a
calming influence on the herd and also to provided
a small amount of protection from wild dogs.  Since
a goats horns usually swept back from the forehead,
the goats could only butt at the wild dogs.  However,
some enterprising animal husbandry expert of the times
found that if he made a slight incision in a goats scalp
and pushed the two undeveloped horn buds together, they
would begin to grow straight and intertwine around each
other.  This bit of surgery allowed the goats to grow
horns which were much more effective in fighting off
the packs of wild dogs.  The gentleman from California,
a vet, rediscovered the process in reading old manuscripts
and tried it himself.  It seems to have worked.  These
goats are not mutants.  If one studies the old paintings
and tapestrys, you will notice that the depicted unicorns
seem to have a small beard on their chins, just like a goat.
The animals were indeed called unicorns, or more accurately,
uni-horns.  The practice was not widespread, so that in places
where the method was not used, the animals became objects of
wonder and a mythology began to grow concerning them.  Over time,
the art of creating unicorns was lost as wild dog packs were
destroyed or driven away from the sheep raising areas.  As this
happened, the mythology grew stronger. 

The goats at the B&B circus were produced using the same
method used during the early middle ages.  I do not see
this as a mutilation of any great proportion.  I see the
cropping of dogs ears and the removal of dogs tails as
a much greater form of mutilation that the ASPCA keeps
it's mouth shut about.  Further, the dehorning of cows,
after the horns have developed, seems a much worse form
of mutilation.  The horn buds on a kid have not as yet
begun to attach themselves to the skull of the goat
when the operation is performed, thus, there is not
a tearing of the tissue at that time.  The small
incision is no worse than the normal scratches and
cuts a kid will pick up in the course of events.
I find the "unicorns" to be an interesting bit of
animal trivia and, as long as they are well treated,
see no great harm in displaying them.

T. C. Wheeler