Call to remove goat from Puck Fair

Animal rights activists are urging organisers of the Puck Fair in Killorglin, Co Kerry “to take the live goat out of the festival”, saying tradition can never be used to expose animals to physical and psychological damage.

Concerns about the goat’s capture and confinement are being raised against the background of the 2013 Animal Health and Welfare Act.

The tradition of crowning of a wild male mountain goat each August to reign over the town for three days and three nights of revelry dates back at least 400 years, with the first written record of the Killorglin fair going back to 1613.