Johnny Allen bought a mystery Monday.

After attending a goat sale in Hattiesburg, Allen came back witha new resident for the family’s Pleasant Grove Road home. Allenacquired the mystery animal as a surprise for his wife Mary.

“My husband knew I wouldn’t know what it was,” Mary said as shelooked at the creature in its new truck trailer home Wednesdayafternoon.

As it turns out, Mary’s not alone in her uncertainty about theanimal, now named Jimmy Lee.

A Tuesday trip to the veterinarian yielded few clues. Andfriends and neighbors have been dumbfounded in trying to identifythe animal.

“My daddy’s 87, and he said he’s never seen anything like it inhis life,” Johnny Allen said.

Jimmy Lee sports four horns, two of which are curved upright andtwo that are horizontal; a long tail; and brown wool on his backand sides. What the Allens find interesting is his full set ofteeth, while pointing out that a goat has only four teeth.

Perhaps the Allens may find an answer at Thursday’s Goat FieldDay. The event, attended by Mississippi State and AlcornCooperative Extension Program specialists, is scheduled for 5:30p.m. the county’s Multi-Use Facility on Industrial Park Road.

So far, the most-mentioned possibility is that Jimmy Lee is someform of exotic animal, possibly from Africa. The Allens mentionedthe Barbado breed, but veterinarian Dr. Bob Watson discounted thatpossibility.

“It’s not like any Barbado I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen quite afew of those,” Watson said.

Even the person who sold Jimmy Lee to Allen was unsure what itwas. According to Allen, the seller had Jimmy Lee mixed up in aherd of goats from the coast.

Allen estimated the animal to be about five years old.

One thing Allen has learned, though, is Jimmy Lee is a spiritedanimal. The new owner said Jimmy Lee had to be housed in thecovered trailer because he almost jumped free while moved aroundearlier this week.

“That’s the jumpingist scamp you ever looked at,” Allensaid.

So what are Allen’s plans for Jimmy Lee?

The first priority is to find out what he is. Other than that,his future — like his origin — is uncertain.

“I don’t what I’m going to do with that thing,” Allen said.