You're kidding: Cost of rounding up herd of goats from busy Cork road tops €1,000 a head

It has prompted calls for the council and department of agriculture to pursue the owners of the animals, and to hold them responsible

Labour Cllr John Maher said: 'I can see goats wandering along the road, grazing up on the ditches sometimes up to three times a day.' File picture: Denis Minihane

It costs more than €1,000 a head to round up a small herd of wandering goats posing a danger to traffic on Cork’s busy North Ring Road.

Figures released to Labour Cllr John Maher show that Cork City Council spent €11,000 rounding up nine goats from the general Ballyvolane area in recent weeks, with officials estimating that there are at least another eight still to be removed.

Many were in poor physical condition, with some taken in by an animal charity for rehabilitation, while others have been rehomed in West Cork.

“The captured goats have no tags, making it impossible to identify owners,” the council’s director of services in the local area development and operations directorate, Paul Moynihan, said.

It has prompted calls from Mr Maher, who has since 2017 been raising concerns about goats wandering loose on the North Ring Road, for the council and department of agriculture to pursue the owners of the animals, and to hold them responsible.

He said:

It is very unsatisfactory that there seems to be no repercussions for the owners of these animals.

“This problem crops up time and time again and the issue needs to be addressed at source, with the owners. I don’t care who owns them, but they need to be held accountable.

“The council's own fire service operates from a sub-station on the North Ring Road, we have council workers operating from a depot there, and I can see goats wandering along the road, grazing up on the ditches sometimes up to three times a day.

“And now I’m getting calls from nearby housing estates to say the goats are wandering in there too. It’s just not good enough.” 

Details on the latest round-up were outlined to Mr Maher at the March meeting of Cork City Council.

Mr Moynihan said the council has in recent months appointed a specialist contractor to deal with the issue of goats grazing on public lands adjoining roads, including the North Ring Road.

“The work involved is necessarily time consuming involving many man hours, as successful removal involves being able to work very closely near the goats and establish their trust prior to capture. Any stress to the animals can result in unpredictable flight, possibly on to a nearby road,” he said.

But primary responsibility for animal welfare lies with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. Its authorised officers have responsibilities in relation to the enforcement of animal welfare legislation.

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Any person who holds goats in the state must apply to the department for registration, with all goats being required to be double tagged under the National Goat Identification System - a tag in each ear with a 12-digit number which includes the details of the goat owner and an individual goat ID number.

Mr Moynihan said: “The council will continue with the operation and liaise with the department on the issue.”

Two years ago, the council deployed eight goats at Beaumont Quarry, a disused limestone quarry on the city's southside to chomp through non-native vegetation as part of an eco-friendly land management initiative.

The project was a partnership between the council and Cork Nature Network and involved a herd of goats from Billy Walsh's Billy's Rent a Goat.