A ‘hungry’ goat gave a rude shock to its owner when it chewed up currency notes worth Rs 66,000 that the man had kept in the pocket of his trouser, at Siluapur village in Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh in India on Monday.

The currency was in the denomination of Rs 2,000 notes, which farmer Sarvesh Kumar Pal had kept to purchase bricks for construction work that is underway in his house. When he saw the goat munching the notes, Pal raised an alarm and could manage to save only two Rs 2,000 notes, that too in a damaged condition. There was no trace of the remaining 31 notes, reports The Times of India.

‘I was taking a bath and the money was kept in the pocket of my trousers. Notorious for eating all kinds of paper products, the goat seized the chance to munch on its favourite food. What to do, my goat is like a child to me,’ Sarvesh said with a broad smile. ‘Later, two notes wet in saliva could be retrieved in a damaged condition,’ he added.

Neighbours and even villagers from nearby areas are thronging to Sarvesh’s house to have a glimpse of the goat. Many find it interesting and have even clicked selfies with the goat.

‘What to do, my goat is like a child to me’ -- thats humanity.

‘Some even suggested to take the goat to veterinarians and get some medicines to make the animal vomit and recover the lost money. Many asked me to sell the goat to a butcher as it has brought misfortune to us,’ Sarvesh said.

A neighbour said in a lighter vein to hand over the goat to the police as it had committed a serious crime. ‘We can’t be cruel to our pet. It is like our own child,’ Sarvesh and his wife said.