BELFAST, Maine — The delinquent Belfast goats that gained internet fame after spending part of the weekend in police custody are back home, poised for a much less eventful week.

Mowgli and Louis, Norwegian dwarf goats that live in a large fenced-in backyard pen overlooking the Passagassawakeag River, managed to wriggle free Sunday morning after pushing or headbutting a post far enough back to create a small opening.

Their owners, the Jonathan Clapp family, were none the wiser, until that afternoon when they saw the Facebook chatter that was spreading across Maine.

Around 9:30 a.m., Sgt. Daniel Fitzpatrick was dispatched to a home on High Street, just across the street from the Clapps, after the homeowner called about a pair of intruders in her garage. Fitzpatrick arrived to find two small goats jumping up and down on empty cat carriers and eating cat food that was stored in the garage.

“They were having a grand old time,” the nine-year Belfast police veteran said Monday.

The homeowner who called police didn’t know her neighbors owned a pair of goats. She didn’t know anyone around her did.

“She does now, and so does just about everyone else,” Jonathan Clapp, the High Street resident who owns the goats, said. Clapp’s daughters, Jillian, 16, and Jessica, 18, both Belfast High School students, take care of Mowgli and Louis.

Fitzpatrick borrowed a couple of leashes from the homeowner, hooked up the goats and loaded them into the backseat of his police SUV.

He brought the runaways to some homes in the neighborhood that he knew had livestock, but all animals were accounted for in those places. So, Fitzpatrick kept the goats and the department posted a series of now viral pictures on Facebook, hoping someone would point them toward home.

In the meantime, Fitzpatrick and the goats spent quality time in his SUV. He fed them carrot sticks that he brought for his own lunch and then picked up some extra carrots when he ran out of supplies.

Louis stuck his head through the partition between the back seat and the front of the SUV and nibbled on Fitzpatrick’s ear and hair, which is something he often does when he wants more attention, according to Jillian Clapp.

“They’re almost like dogs,” Jonathan Clapp said Monday as the goats played in their fenced-in area. “They follow you around, and if you sit down they sit in your lap. They really like human interaction.”

After the goats had been in police custody for about three hours, Jonathan Clapp got a message from his friend — who also didn’t know the Clapps had goats — about the pair on the loose in town. After Clapp texted back and forth with his daughter Jillian, who was the only family member home at the time, it became clear the family goats weren’t where they were supposed to be.

Jillian walked down to the police department and walked the goats back home through downtown and along the Rail Trail. The goats were grounded for a time and Jonathan Clapp has double checked the fence for security.

It’s been a weird week of animal-related shenanigans in Belfast.

Last Wednesday, a moose slowed the morning commute on the busy bridge that carries Route 1 over the Passagassawakeag River. Gawkers shared photos, bringing national attention to the area then, too, as the moose was spotted traveling down Route 1 and eventually at a beach in Northport later that day.

To top it off, Belfast police received an email Sunday from a man who had captured a rabbit in a live trap on his Hunt Road property. The bunny behaved like a pet, so it is being kept on a small farm in Lincolnville in case an owner steps forward.

Belfast police are still hoping someone claims their lost rabbit, but fear someone may have purchased the animal as an Easter gift before deciding not to keep it and releasing it into the wild. Belfast police can be reached at 338-2420.

Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.