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Smaller Gävle goat set on fire but big sibling unscathed

This year's Gävle goat at its inauguration on December 1. Photo: Mats Åstrand/TT

A small straw Christmas goat has been set alight in the Swedish city of Gävle, but the larger version — long the target of yuletide arsonists — remains untouched with just over a week to go.

“One person has been arrested,” Pelle Nellberg of the local police told the TT newswire, after “den lilla julbocken”, or “the small goat”, was set on fire on Saturday night

The man who has been seized was discovered close to the goat and will be undergo a police interview on Sunday.

Since it was first put up in 1966, Gävles giant straw goat had been burned down in more years than it has survived the season, and its torching makes international news.

Swedens fire services arrived quickly enough to put out the blaze, leaving the straw animal with only minor burns to its left front leg.

The smaller goat is placed away from the main attraction, meaning it is under less thorough surveillance.

In 2016, the goat burned down only hours after it was officially inaugurated, but last year it survived.

The goat has its own satirical Twitter account and this year had a tribute song written for it from by rockers The Refreshments.

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