Sudan's Goat Wife Chokes to Death

A goat that gained international notoriety last year after getting married to a Sudanese man who indecently assaulted her has died after accidentally choking on a plastic bag.

The black and white goat called Rose swallowed the plastic bag while scavenging for scraps on the streets of Juba, a town in southern Sudan, it was reported today.

The story of the goat's "marriage" became one of the most widely read stories on the internet last year.

A Google search brings up more than 170,000 web pages based on the story.

The incident came to worldwide attention in February last year when the BBC Monitoring Service reported that the goat's owner had been woken by a loud noise outside and rushed out to find a man having sex with the animal.

The intruder, Charles Tombe, was captured and hauled before the local council of elders who ordered him to marry Rose and pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars (£37) to Mr Alifi.

Tom Rhodes, the editor of the Juba Post, which first ran the story, told the BBC: "The idea was to publicly embarrass the man."

Following the marriage Rose had a male kid, but "not a human one", Mr Rhodes said.