Protect the Old Irish Goat before it's too late

Actualización de la peticiónBan Blood Sports in IrelandProtect the Old Irish Goat before it's too late

Irish Council Against Blood SportsMullingar, Irlanda

8 ene 2024

Heritage Minister Darragh O'Brien and Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan are being urged to act to protect the Old Irish Goat before it's too late.

The renewed appeal follows a Sunday Independent column which highlighted the desperate plight of the goats.

Columnist Fiona O'Connell referred to calls for an amendment to our wildlife laws "before feral herds that have existed in the wilds of our most remote glens and valleys for 5,000 years are shot to extinction.”

Incredibly, this native rare breed which is an important part of Ireland's wildlife heritage may be blasted to death by trophy hunters.

“We implore you to act with the greatest urgency to introduce full protection for the Old Irish Goat before it's too late,” we stated in our appeal to Ministers O'Brien and Noonan.

Read Fiona O'Connell's column in the Sunday Independent

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/fiona-oconnell-our-rare-irish-goats-need-proper-protection-from-trophy-hunters/a43457577.html

Our rare Irish goats need proper protection from trophy hunters

Fiona O'Connell / Lay of the Land

Sunday Independent, 10 December 2023

It's heartening to hear there has been a big response to a recent column about the plight of the Bilberry Goats who have been living on the outskirts of Waterford City for over 300 years. Though it's not surprising, for many folk have a soft spot for these creatures with their mad blue eyes, lively intelligence and physical agility. Not to mention their courage, as illustrated by the tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff who outwitted the troll that threatened to devour them.

Alas, proof is never far away that these gritty fairy tales are based on timeless facts, for trolls still threaten many rare goats that should be treasured, with another ancient breed in this country also facing catastrophe.

The preservation of the Old Irish Goat, characterised by a multicoloured thatch-like coat, long hair and corrugated horns "is not just essential for Ireland, where they are perhaps our most distinctive and special genetic resource of any livestock species, but also for the world”, according to Dan Bradley, a professor of population genetics at TCD.

Yet despite this, and the Agriculture Minister last year announcing the approval of the Old Irish Goat as a native rare breed to Ireland, their protection is as pathetic as that afforded our Irish hare, with herds living in the wild still at the mercy of modern-day trolls otherwise known as trophy hunters.

This is because of a bureaucratic blunder whereby the National Parks and Wildlife Service is responsible for wild animals and the Department of Agriculture looks after domestic breeds.

The Old Irish Goat was brought to Ireland thousands of years ago as a domestic animal but has long since been classified as feral so it doesn't fit either category, meaning no agency is looking out for these animals.

"It's a ridiculous situation, considering the tiny surviving numbers and their ancient DNA and heritage status,” says Yasmin Fortune, a conservationist from Wicklow. Especially as under the Wildlife Act these goats can be hunted with the permission of the owner or occupier of the land where they roam.

There are big bucks to be made by persecuting Irish pucks.

In true troll fashion, the fact these animals are rare actually increases their value for trophy hunters, with the companies that cater for their largely international clients boasting about having access to hunting grounds populated by ancient herds, which make for a memorable experience.

Memorable is one way to describe the images of dead puck goats that Fortune shows me, eyes glazed by death and their bloodied corpse slumped next to the grinning faces of members of our species whose joy in life seems to consist in robbing other species of theirs.

We can hunt the mountain goats year-round, one website proclaims, adding like many other such companies, that they can cater for the newest hunters to ones with disabilities.

A trophy goat is included in the 100pc guaranteed success rate, with extra animals at €1,000 a pop, quite literally.

"Ireland is clearly identified as a tourist destination where now, at heart, national heritage, animal welfare, Irish traditions and culture all have a price,” according to The Old Irish Goat Society in Co Mayo.

They join conservationists in calling for an urgent amendment to our wildlife laws — "before feral herds that have existed in the wilds of our most remote glens and valleys for 5,000 years are shot to extinction,” Fortune says, depriving us of a "massively important and irreplaceable part of our most ancient heritage”.

It's something that is bound to get our goat; making it time for the Government to cut the empty guff and act to ensure these goats get the protection they desperately need.

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Find out more about the Old Irish Goat at

https://oldirishgoat.ie/

ACTION ALERT

Sign the petition

BAN THE HUNTING OF NATIVE RARE BREED OLD IRISH GOATS

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-agriculture-food-and-the-marine-ban-the-hunting-of-native-rare-breed-old-irish-goats

Get in contact with Heritage Minister Darragh O'Brien and Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan and tell them to act to protect the Old Irish Goat.

Heritage Minister Darragh O’Brien (Fianna Fail, Dublin Fingal)

Tel: (01) 618 3802 OR (086) 251 9893

Email: darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; minister@housing.gov.ie; natureconservation@housing.gov.ie; WildlifeLicence@housing.gov.ie

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DarraghOBrienTD

X: http://twitter.com/DarraghOBrienTD

Minister of State for Nature Malcolm Noonan TD (Green Party, Carlow Kilkenny)

Tel: (01) 618 3148 OR (01) 618 3156

Email: mos@housing.gov.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/votemalcolmnoonan1/

X: https://twitter.com/noonan_malcolm

Urge government party leaders Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin and Eamon Ryan to urgently put in place protection for the Old Irish Goat.

Leo Varadkar