Sensing Stanley ... a billy goat finds his way home

Alize Ngaronga, 6, is happy to have her playmate - pet goat Stanley - back on home turf. Photo / John McCombe

A family is delighted to be reunited with their beloved billy goat after being tipped off to his whereabouts by a person who claims to have psychic powers.

But it was a rare reunion - dozens of goats are going missing every year.

One-year-old Stanley disappeared on March 13 from Matatoki in Waikato. Danika Te Moananui said advice from a psychic friend helped locate Stanley four days later.

Te Moananui contacted police and wrote a plea on her Facebook page. A person calling themselves a matakite, or Maori shaman, posted a message with detailed directions to a green shed near a local pub.

"She told us to go down a certain road, and we pretty much found him straight away." Stanley had got out of his paddock and an unknown man picked him up. "The guy didn't think to look for his owner even though he had a collar on."

Kim Buchanan, founder of website petsonthenet.co.nz, said her website listed a lost goat about once a week on average and some people needed reminding not to keep stray livestock. "If you find a cow in the middle of the road, you don't own the cow. The same with a goat or a dog."

Te Moananui said goats were good pets and the family were delighted Stanley was back.

"They can be a little needy, but I think that's cute."