Goat throwing (in Spanish: Lanzamiento de cabra desde campanario or Salto de la cabra) was a festival in Manganeses de la Polvorosa, province of Zamora, Spain, celebrated on the fourth Sunday of January, where a group of young men threw a live goat from the top of a church. A crowd below would then catch the falling goat with a canvas sheet. Some goats survived the fall and some did not. [1] If the goat survived it was revered and paraded through the small village, becoming a local legend for years to come. The event is inspired by a legend that states that a goat, which miraculously fed the poor with its milk, fell out of the tower, but landed safely.
Animal rights groups demanded the end of this festival several times, [2] [3] until the practice was banned in 2000. A toy plush goat was thrown in the 2014 celebration. [4]