Frostie the Wheelchair-Bound Goat Dies
June 25, 2014 -- The goat that was rescued by an Australian animal group and captured on video learning to walk while using a wheelchair has died.
The baby snow goat, named Frostie, died early Monday morning, according to a blog published Tuesday by Edgar's Mission, the nonprofit farm and sanctuary that rescued Frostie.
“The autopsy revealed that Frostie’s spinal column was riddled with abscesses that refused to acknowledge the strength and determination of the arsenal of antibiotics and medications that had been sent in to do battle,” reads the blog post titled “Why?.” “One abscess was so large it was pressing on and compromising his little rumen [or paunch], preventing it from doing all the good things rumens do to keep little goats alive.”
READ MORE: Video of Baby Goat ‘Frostie’ Taking First Steps Is Achingly Adorable
WATCH: Fall in Love with Frostie the Snow Goat
Frostie gained worldwide attention in May when the mission, founded by Pam Ahern, posted the video of his learning to walk and explained that the goat suffered from an illness called joint naval ill and could not use his back legs. When he was rescued, Frostie also suffered from lice and dehydration, they said.
The mission, located in Victoria, Australia, gave Frostie a wheelchair from another beloved sanctuary animal, Leon Trotsky the pig.
In the video, Frostie tentatively toes the ground and even walked up to an Edgar’s Mission worker at one point to sniff his face.
“He wanted to live, and that was just what we promised him we would help him do,” Ahern writes in Tuesday’s blog post.
“I saw Frostie not as a ‘farm animal’ but as a creature in trouble, a creature in desperate need of kindness, compassion and help,” she writes. “That fact that Frostie looked a little different was no justification to me for denying him the chance at life he so richly deserved – we would do no less if he were a puppy or kitten.”
Ahern also explains in the blog post why she made Frostie’s battle for survival so public.
“I want for people to be kind to animals and I am sure Frostie would want that too,” she writes.
ABC News' Colleen Curry contributed to this report.
