Sudanese goat marriage incident

Rose was a goat from the Hai Malakal suburb of Juba, the capital of the Sudanese region of South Sudan. It became an internet phenomenon after a local man, Charles Tombe, was caught by the goat's owner in an act of bestiality. The owner subdued Tombe and summoned the village elders. One elder reported he and the other elders found Tombe, who had been tied up by the owner, at the door of the goat shed. The goat's owner reported that, "They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife." Tombe was ordered to 'marry' the goat and pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars, with half of the money up front, plus the cost of the goat.

The goat apparently acquired the name "Rose" during the elders' deliberations as part of a joke.

The story, first published in The Juba Post an independent weekly in South Sudan, was later picked up and published 24 February 2006 on the BBC website, attracted massive attention and was republished on numerous newspapers, blogs, and other websites. Even a year after publication, the story was consistently among the BBC's 10 most emailed articles, with many visitors to the BBC news site finding the tale amusing and passing it onto friends. The story received over 100,000 hits on five successive days long after its original publication, and was read by millions of people. The BBC, astonished at this popularity, wondered if there was a campaign to keep the tale at the top of its rankings; however, an investigation by its senior software engineer, Gareth Owen, determined that the demand was genuine.

Death

On May 3 2007 it was reported that the goat had died, having choked on a plastic bag. The goat was survived by a four-month old male kid. The BBC honoured the animal with a mock obituary . The death was also reported in many other news outlets, including The Times, the Daily Mail, and Fox News.