Pet Match Maker Rescue (PMMR) held the first ever Goat Yoga event in Bakersfield at the rescue on April 8th.

Along with being the first in Bakersfield, it is also the first event of its kind for PMMR. The rescue director, Morgan Sokolow, coordinated the event after hearing about similar animal rescue and yoga events in other cities. Sokolow rescued a few baby goats and needed a fundraiser to help cover the cost of the milk and care for the rescued goats.

Sokolow and PMMR started with rescuing only dogs, but Sokolow then fostered ponies, goats, and “fell into farm animal rescue,” according to Jessica Barringer, adoption coordinator.

After rescuing several calves and a horse, Sokolow was contacted about rescuing a goat from slaughter. She was going to rescue a pregnant goat, but the mother goat and two baby goats died. After this, the organizer of the slaughter auction contacted Sokolow about six goats to be rescued.

PMMR was expecting less than 50 people for the entire event, according to Barringer, but after online registration opened they had over 100 people sign up. There were three 30 minute sessions held in order to keep the sessions manageable. Sokolow wanted everyone to have the opportunity to interact with the animals. Those who attended were led by yoga instructor Rochelle Pate from Warrior Yoga at the rescue while baby goats were able to roam around. The goats chewed on shoelaces, headphones, and even a yoga participant’s hair.

Sokolow said she would like to hold the event several times through the year, with another goat yoga event being planned for this fall.