Straw Goat Survives Christmas Unharmed

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – A giant straw goat that has been the target of a violent Christmas tradition for four decades survived the holiday season unharmed, Swedish officials said Tuesday.

For once, they said, vandals failed to burn it down.

The city of Gavle dismantled the 43-foot-high Christmas monument Tuesday, marking a rare victory against vandals who have made it a sport to destroy the goat in imaginative ways before Christmas every year.

It is only the 12th time in the goat’s 40-year history that it had survived unscathed, said Anna Ostman, a spokeswoman for the city’s goat committee. Since it was first erected on Dec. 3 1966, the goat has been burned down 22 times, smashed several times, run over by a car and had its legs cut off.

This year’s goat was attacked by would-be arsonists in mid-December, but survived thanks to a new flame-resistant chemical coating.

"If the Gavle goat hadn’t been impregnated with flame-resistant chemicals, we would have been left with a black skeleton," Ostman said.

The straw goat would be kept in a secret location until next Christmas, officials said.

Last year’s goat was burned down by vandals dressed as Santa Claus and the Gingerbread Man. They were never caught.