There are repeated calls for protection of Old Irish Goats, amid reports that the rare breed continues to be hunted for sport.
Minister of State with responsibility for heritage and electoral reform, Malcolm Noonan said that the hunting of certain wild animals is regulated in part by the Wildlife Act 1976.
However, under this act, the position of the Old Irish Goat is not listed as a “protected wild animal”.
A petition designed by the Old Irish Goat Society has now gathered over 19,000 signatures and is ongoing. It will be presented to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
According to the society, there is estimated to be less than 200 Old Irish Goats on the island and the species is “on the verge of extinction”.
The goats can be killed all year round, with no hunting season or quotas, and a gun licence is required for the hunting.
The society stated: “The Old Irish Goat is Ireland’s indigenous landrace breed, now critically endangered and only found in remote mountain ranges roaming in feral herds.
“Interbreeding with imported domestic goats has caused major loss of the original the characteristics and adaptations.”
Old Irish Goats
Minister McConalogue has said that the goat society is recognised by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) as a breed society and approved to maintain a breeding programme in Ireland.
“My department has been proactive in terms of its engagement with and financial assistance to the Old Irish Goat Society.
“Over five years, my department has supported a range of activities designed to recognise and conserve the Old Irish Goat,” the minister said.
For the last two years, the goats have been used for conservation grazing, demonstrating their benefits for invasive-species control, gorse-management, grassland and healthland management, and wildfire prevention.
The indigenous wild Irish goat project in Howth, which was promoted by Fingal County Council, has been a success in controlling the spread of gorse and keeping it under control.
As a result, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has also teamed up with the Old Irish Goat Society to pilot a project on Killiney Hill, Co. Dublin.