Two pet goats have emerged as unexpected heroes, credited with saving their owners and neighbors after a devastating tornado buried them beneath tons of debris in Oklahoma.
Adam and Mary Sloat, alongside their teenage daughter and two neighbors, found themselves trapped in an underground storm shelter. This happened when a ferocious EF-4 tornado, with winds reaching up to 200 mph, completely destroyed their home in Enid, Oklahoma, on April 23.
The family’s cherished goats, Percy and Penny, survived the catastrophic event and played a crucial role in the rescue. They climbed onto the wreckage, persistently stomping and bleating, which alerted first responders to the fact that the group was trapped below.
“They saved us. No doubt about it,” Adam Sloat shared in an interview with the New York Post.
The harrowing experience started shortly after 8 p.m., following a rare tornado emergency alert issued by the National Weather Service. This high-level warning signaled the imminent approach of the tornado toward the city, home to approximately 50,000 residents.
The Sloat family was relaxing at home and watching the NFL draft when the alert came through.
Sloat, his wife Mary, 52, and their daughter rushed into the family’s underground storm shelter. Neighbors Eddie and Linda joined them just before the half-mile-wide tornado slammed into their property.
‘It sounded like a freight train,’ Sloat said. He told his wife and daughter to grab everything they could and head to the shelter.
Adam and Mary Sloat say their pet goats Percy and Penny saved their lives after an EF-4 tornado destroyed their home in Enid, Oklahoma
The powerful tornado buried the Sloat family and two neighbors in an underground storm shelter beneath tons of bricks and debris
Percy and Penny survived the storm and stood on top of the rubble, stomping and bleating until rescuers found the trapped family (Pictured: One of the goats with Mary Sloat)
As the tornado roared overhead, the family listened in terror as glass shattered and bricks from the chimney crashed onto the storm shelter, denting the cellar door, Mary Sloat told KFOR.Â
The family initially feared Percy and Penny had been killed.
The goats lived in a simple 16-by-8-foot plywood shelter with a metal roof that was completely obliterated by the storm.
‘I can tell you that none of that is there anymore. There’s just a concrete slab; we didn’t even find the plywood,’ Mary Sloat told KFOR.
When the tornado passed, the family realized they were trapped underground after thousands of bricks from the chimney crushed the cellar doors.
The group called 911, but rescuers were unable to pinpoint their location beneath the wreckage.
‘They’d never hear us,’ Sloat told the Post.
As they waited in darkness, Mary Sloat and her daughter heard what sounded like a miracle.
Adam Sloat says there is no doubt that Percy and Penny saved his family after their bleating led rescuers to the storm shelter where they were trapped beneath the rubble
The Sloats emerged to find their home reduced to rubble after the tornado tore through the neighborhood
‘My daughter and I could have sworn that we heard goat noises, and I thought, there’s no way,’ she told KFOR.
Against all odds, Percy and Penny had survived.
Sloat said Percy and Penny stood directly above the buried storm shelter and made a ‘steady stream of noise’ that helped guide rescuers to the exact spot.
‘The rescuers had no idea where we were but Percy and Penny knew,’ he told the Post.
The family and their neighbors were eventually pulled to safety.
‘We finally emerged and couldn’t believe our eyes,’ Sloat said. ‘Everything was gone, and there were first responders walking around.’
One firefighter later told him: ‘We had no idea where you were until we saw your goats.’
Mary Sloat said she learned the next day just how crucial the animals had been to the rescue.
A powerful EF-4 tornado with winds of up to 200 mph destroyed multiple homes in Enid, Oklahoma
A man and woman hold onto each other as they view damage Friday, April 24, 2026, in the Grayridge neighborhood that was damaged by a tornado Thursday in Enid, Oklahoma
A firefighter told her that when crews came around the back of the house, Percy and Penny were standing on top of the pile of bricks, leading them to suspect the storm shelter was directly underneath.
The tornado tore roofs from buildings, snapped power poles and blocked roads throughout Enid, though officials said only minor injuries were reported.
Now, as the Sloats begin rebuilding their home, they say they will never look at Percy and Penny the same way again.
‘On days whenever they’re being ornery and they headbutt me, or they nip at my fingers, I’m going to have to remember this,’ Mary Sloat told KFOR. ‘I don’t know of anybody else who has a goat story like this.’