24-Hour Security Watch On Christmas Goat

Around-the-clock CCTV and an electrical fence will help prevent the temptingly flammable giant straw goat from being ignited this year – or will it?

Vísir reports that the Christmas Goat, also known as the Gävle Goat in its native Sweden, is back at IKEA in Garðabær, where it is hoped it will remain standing through the holidays without someone attempting to set it on fire, and without strong winds ripping it to pieces. The temptation to set a match to a giant straw goat has proved so great in years previous that this year, special precautions are being taken.

Þórarinn Ævarsson, the managing director of IKEA in Iceland, told reporters that security cameras will be trained on the goat around the clock, and the perimeter will be girded off with an electrical fence. Both of these measures, it is hoped, will deter would-be goat arsonists from destroying the structure.

“You do what you can, or what you think will be enough [to protect the goat],” he told reporters. “People will have to be very resourceful if they intend to ignite the goat.”

The reason for concern is not unfounded. In both 2010 and 2012, vandals set fire to the goat.

Even the weather can be the goat’s natural enemy, though. In 2011 and 2013, unusually high winds tore down the Gävle Goat, whose thin metal frame was unable to stand up against Iceland’s trademark gusts.

Below, you can watch security cam footage of the goat being set aflame, set to the dulcet tones of Prodigy:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD5LI1KQyOc&w=420&h=315]