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Army cadets snatch wrong goat in mascot-stealing prank on Navy

Hunter Martin / Getty Images Sport / Getty

West Point cadets made off with the wrong goat while attempting to steal the Naval Academy's mascot ahead of December's Army-Navy football game.

The cadets traveled four hours from New York to a private farm near Annapolis, Maryland, over the weekend to snatch Navy's mascot, according to Dave Philipps of the New York Times. The mascot is 37th in a long line of goat mascots named Bill, but the cadets mistakenly made off with Bill No. 34, a 14-year-old, one-horned retiree.

Bill No. 34 was returned home safely Monday and deemed to be in good health by a veterinarian.

The superintendents of the two academies, Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams and Vice Adm. Sean Buck, said in a joint statement that they are investigating the incident.

"The U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy are disappointed by the trust that was broken recently between our brothers and sisters in arms," the statement reads, according to the Associated Press. "These actions do not reflect either academy's core values of dignity and respect."

While service academies signed a formal agreement in 1992 forbidding mascot stealing, the pranks have continued. In 2018, the U.S. Military Academy apologized after Air Force's falcon mascot was injured during an abduction by West Point cadets.

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