A gang of goats that took over a Welsh town during the coronavirus pandemic is finally being relocated after multiplying their pack beyond capacity.
The Kashmiri goats of Llandudno are known to traipse down from their mountaintops and into the streets when food becomes scarce during the spring.
However, they’d recently set up shop in the village and refused to leave. Making matters worse: Llandudno officials announced that the goats had not received their annual contraceptive injections due to pandemic restrictions — leaving the goats to populate as they please.
After more than a year of living with a flock of goat neighbors, at least 30 individuals are now being relocated to Bristol and Bournemouth.
At the height of lockdown, the climbing goats could be seen moseying down the middle of the street, balancing atop stone fences and stomping about rooftops, as seen in one recent Facebook video. And the phenomenon was all in good fun until Llandudno’s goat population boomed without their contraceptive deterrent.
Fearful that man or beast could be harmed by such close cohabitation — from, say, traffic accidents due to goats scampering in the road — authorities made the decision to split up the group.
Nineteen female goats have now been caught up on their birth control injections and will remain in Llandudno, while another 30 are being sent away to take part in “conservations grazing projects,” officials said.
In Bristol and Bournemouth, those goats will help maintain aggressive and invasive plant species so that healthier plants can grow.
Councillor Greg Robbins of Conwy County in Wales told the BBC, “The goats are wild animals, but several organizations have an interest in them due to land ownership, conservation or animal welfare.”
Authorities have not yet identified an exact count of goats wandering in Llandudno — a statistic they’ll confirm in the spring during the mating season — but estimate there are at least 100 individuals remaining.
This isn’t the first time they’ve been moved, according to Robbins. “We’ve relocated groups of goats to other parts of the UK on several occasions since 2001, as part of managing the herd size,” he said.
The UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency, which helps maintain the nation’s Kashmiri goat population, said they are “happy” with the result of the current effort, said Robbins.
