There's an anxious goat called Polly that only chills out in a duck costume

What do we know about goats? Well, their excellent coordination allowing them to happily live on steep mountains, they can be taught to recognise their names, and when they’re feeling nervous they can be placed in fluffy duck costumes to calm down.

Wait, what?

That’s right, there’s a rescue goat called Polly that suffers from anxiety, as well as blindness and neurological problems, and when she wears her special duck costume, she becomes instantly soothed.

Leanne Lauricella, Polly’s carer as part of Goats of Anarchy (an initiative with a bad ass name that looks after goats with special needs) told The Dodo that she was out shopping around Halloween and spotted the children’s duck costume, which she purchased and took home for Polly to wear.

She automatically fell in love with it, as it’s thought to have the same effect as a baby being swaddled in a blanket. She also bought pig and unicorn costumes, but none of them work quite as well as the duck one, so Polly now wears they leave whenever they leave the house or whenever she’s feeling unsettled at home.

"There's something about that duck costume that calms her,” Leanna explained. “She goes into a little trance. She just closes her eyes and she's out.”

There are some concerns about what will happen once she grows out of her child’s duck costume, but Leanna is hoping that her new adopted goat friend, named Pocket, will act as a comfort to her. Currently when Polly can’t find anyone around the house she’ll start sucking on the walls to try and calm herself down.

So next time you’re having a proper bad day and you don’t think you can return to work, just go home, put on some music, dim the lights and slip into something a little more...farm animal-y.

Image credit: Goats of Anarchy