A goat’s life: It’s not kids’ stuff

DURING the recent Lough Ree Environmental Summer School, I guided boatloads of people around the north end of this beautiful lake.

One of the highlights of each trip was when the boat passed close to the island of Inch McDermot, and we got good views of its fine herd of wild goats.

Technically, of course, these animals are feral rather than wild, because they are the descendants of goats originally brought to Ireland as domestic animals, and which then escaped or were released into the wild. Domestic goats were first brought to Ireland by neolithic farmers about 4,000 years ago and there is evidence some went wild soon after.