Wild goats in Ireland ?

UltimateMale

Watching Lesser Spotted Ulster last night on UTV, a woman mentioned that she had seen wild goats in her youth in her area ( forget where, Tyrone, Down wherever ).

Has anyone ever seen wild goats in Ireland and if they are any left, are they indigenous or where they ones who just became free of their keepers and developed from there ?

It wasn't me!

There are several herds where I am (west Wicklow). There are some massive numbers around the west and north-west as well. As far as I know, they're all just feral, as opposed to wild goats.

marlin vs

There are two wild herd's in Waterford both can be easily seen, one herd in in Billberry which is the hill on the waterford side of the Suir bridge and is almost in the city, the other is in Passage East on the hill overlooking the village.
http://bilberrygoats.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVC_w2ky5tY

SeaFields

There's plenty of the in Kerry. I've seen maybe thirty or forty together at a time.

On parts of the ring of Kerry they are on the side of the road.

UltimateMale

Interesting folks, thanks. There's a lot more wildlife in Ireland to what I thought.

Alun

There's a large herd of feral goats in and around the Glendalough area. They belonged to the miners who inhabited the miners village (I think they kept them just for milk, but possibly also for meat, I don't know) at the end of the upper lake, and were released into the wild when the mines finally closed at the end of the 19th century or thereabouts. They seem to be doing quite well.

UltimateMale

marlin vs wrote: »

There are two wild herd's in Waterford both can be easily seen, one herd in in Billberry which is the hill on the waterford side of the Suir bridge and is almost in the city, the other is in Passage East on the hill overlooking the village.
http://bilberrygoats.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVC_w2ky5tY

I see from your link on theBilberry goats that " The 14 acrepiece of land where they graze used to be a commonage but was recentlysold to a developer who wants to build houses on this historic area. Thiswill render the Bilberry Herd extinct. "

Typical, bloody typical. I hope with this developmenthas gone by the wayside as the country has obviously waaaay too many houses anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if this ' developer ' is a Fianna Fail cronie.

Birdnuts

I know of at least two herds - One about 30 strong inhabits land in and around the giant Roadstone quarry on the Wickow/Kildare border just outside Blessington.

The second of about 15 animals lives on a small island in the middle of Carrowmore lake in North Mayo near Belmullet:)

transit260

There are dozens of ferral goats in munster that are playing havoc with the farm animals there.I witnessed a billy raming his head into the ribcage of a pregnant ewe a few weeks ago.Their eating the grass that the landowners need for the sheep.There are over 70 -80 in one herd and 2 smaller herds of 30+ and 20's.They are there since the sixtys im told and I have been asked to cull them to a managable number,at the moment theres kids all over the place,the farmers are less than pleased.When they get to a number that the land cant accomidate alongside the sheep then I think there will be a cull in the future unfortunately.

Valmont

I remember being on the dart when it hit one on Bray head a few years ago. I would often see the goats and kids scuttling out of the way. I'm pretty sure they are all gone now, whether it was the dart itself or they brought someone in to do it, I don't know.

It wasn't me!

transit260 wrote: »

There are dozens of ferral goats in munster that are playing havoc with the farm animals there.I witnessed a billy raming his head into the ribcage of a pregnant ewe a few weeks ago.Their eating the grass that the landowners need for the sheep.There are over 70 -80 in one herd and 2 smaller herds of 30+ and 20's.They are there since the sixtys im told and I have been asked to cull them to a managable number,at the moment theres kids all over the place,the farmers are less than pleased.When they get to a number that the land cant accomidate alongside the sheep then I think there will be a cull in the future unfortunately.

The herd mentioned near Blessington gets controlled as they damage trees fairly severely. A herd of 70+ would do huge damage, and deplete resources for livestock, as you say.

Valmont

I think they are hunted. I've definitely seen a picture of a dead one on the hunting forum. I guess enough people aren't going out after them if they have to be culled.

It wasn't me!

Valmont wrote: »

I think they are hunted. I've definitely seen a picture of a dead one on the hunting forum. I guess enough people aren't going out after them if they have to be culled.

Yep, there's decent meat in them too, according to friends of mine who've shot them.

foxshooter243

theres plenty of feral goats around Donegal too, at times they are culled back in numbers due to problems caused to farmers and livestock, but if you know where to look they are there to be seen.

Zzippy

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Yep, there's decent meat in them too, according to friends of mine who've shot them.

A colleague occasionaly has to shoot a couple on his land when numbers get too high. Roast goat (not too old) is absolutely delicious mmmmm!

who the fug

Used to be a big herd on Nowen Hill outside bantry, you would only see them in Winter when the weather was bad

Sundew

Loads in "The Burren" Co Clare as well. If you go walking up the hills you are likely to see a herd of them. They are pretty nimble on the rocks as well.
Have some pics taken over the years . Must drag them up

LavaLamp

Sundew wrote: »

Loads in "The Burren" Co Clare as well. If you go walking up the hills you are likely to see a herd of them. They are pretty nimble on the rocks as well.
Have some pics taken over the years . Must drag them up

I saw these chaps a few weeks back, they are awesome. Have to say I would NOT like to p*ss one off looking at the size of their horns :eek:

It wasn't me!

Zzippy wrote: »

A colleague occasionaly has to shoot a couple on his land when numbers get too high. Roast goat (not too old) is absolutely delicious mmmmm!

Apparently makes an amazing korma. I can see it working too. Hmm... Methinks a walkabout is in order when I get some free time!

greenbicycle

There is a big herd of wild goats around Glengarriff in West Cork. I believe they are a rare breed called blue goats and are native to that area. My parents own a house down there with a porch that is just like a recess in the front wall of the house. One year my Dad found a dead one of these goats in the porch, the goat obviously wanted a quiet place to lie down and die, he was really big with massive horns! Not something you expect to see when you come home!

fontanalis

Are these goats wild or feral?

transit260

The goats I see are about since the 60's im told,so does that make em wild or ferral?Get up close to them and they go bloody wild,lol.

Connacht

Several herds of wild feral goats in Mayo, including the rocky hills between Castlebar and Lough Conn.

tyler71

There's a herd on Sandycove island near Kinsale, don't know how they survive on such a small exposed island (must check to see how they got on over this winter). Every now and then somebody ships over some new goats to stop them getting too inbred.

Gillington

Aren't there a load of goats on the island off Dalkey?

Connacht

Poor quality pic of the wild goats I referred to in my post of last year, above. Note the thick forest cover where they hang out.

thebishop

greenbicycle wrote: »

There is a big herd of wild goats around Glengarriff in West Cork.

There are still several heards in this area.They do an amount of damage to trees .There was an orchard in a deserted old farm up the side of the mountain when I was young, they eat the bark off em and they are all gone now.: I wish they would eat the rhododendrons. I wonder how they figured out they are poisonous?

snowstreams

Gillington wrote: »

Aren't there a load of goats on the island off Dalkey?

Yeah, Im not sure if they are still there now. I heard that they were all shot by someone.

Traonach

snowstreams wrote: »

Yeah, Im not sure if they are still there now. I heard that they were all shot by someone.

Those goats on Dalkey Island are a menace. They trample on tern nests (including rare Roseate tern nests). I think there are still there. There could be a good tern colony if only they were removed:mad:.

http://www.dlrcoco.ie/parks/Bio/DalkeyTernLeaflet.pdf

mecksimay

Old Irish Goats in Mulranny, Co. Mayo

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mulranny-Old-Irish-Goats/ & http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/Events/Mulranny_Goats_Outlook_summer_autumn09.pdf

Also goats in Connemara National Park/Kylemore/Letterfrack area

Cookie_Monster

Frequently see a few of them on the hills/road from Enniskerry to Kilteirnan too

Rudy Jakma

When exactly were goats introduced, released or escaped and now feral ? Does anyone know ?
The Puck festival in Killorglin Co. Kerry is thought to be of pre-Christian origin. So it would seem that goats already were living in the wild then.
I have seen wild goats on the Iveragh peninsula on more than one occasion, even last week at the roadside not far from Cahersiveen

recedite

Rudy Jakma wrote: »

When exactly were goats introduced, released or escaped and now feral ? Does anyone know ?

According to this link from mecksimay a few posts back, fairly recent research indicates they walked here across a land bridge from the continent, which would make them a native species.
IMO they are a bit like street pigeons, ie they were here all along, but because they adapted well to living near humans, and because various strains were domesticated at various times, and over time certain feral individuals returned back to the wild, we assume that they are all just "feral".
However, if a certain representative population has been living wild all along, then it's more complicated than just saying that they are farm animals turned feral.

Mothman

[URL="[URL=http://pix.ie/mothman/2913806][IMG]http://photos3.pix.ie/0F/1F/0F1F16C743584F29BC6CFA8968E5C712-0000317152-0002913806-00800L-7944C879D71F47B199609ED5949EDBC5.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"]These goats[/URL] were on top of Derrybawn (SE of Glendalough) last Monday.

redzerologhlen

The burren is riddeled with them, There is a herd of about 90 of them living on the mountain behind my house and I see them every day, they dont eat much but they are awful fec**rs for knocking walls :mad:

steddyeddy

UltimateMale wrote: »

Watching Lesser Spotted Ulster last night on UTV, a woman mentioned that she had seen wild goats in her youth in her area ( forget where, Tyrone, Down wherever ).

Has anyone ever seen wild goats in Ireland and if they are any left, are they indigenous or where they ones who just became free of their keepers and developed from there ?

Theres plenty around glendalough. The other place I have seen one or two was on the peak overlooking loch Bray lower in the dublin mountains.