'It's time consuming, they must establish their trust': Cork City Council hires special contractor to capture abandoned goats near busy road

Cork City Council has hired a special contractor to deal with abandoned goats near the North Ring Rd. 

While the local authority has rescued over half of the goats, it said that trust must be established with the animals over a long period of time before it attempts to capture the remaining ones.

At Monday night’s council meeting, Labour Party councillor John Maher asked the executive what actions have been carried out to protect the vulnerable animals.

Director of local area development and operations Paul Moynihan said that work is ongoing on the issue.

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

“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, with any stress to the animals resulting in unpredictable flight, possibly on to a nearby road.”

Mr Moynihan said that any person who holds goats in the State must apply for registration, and all goats are required to be double tagged under the national goat identification system so their owner can be identified.

“To date, nine goats have been removed, with an estimate that there are at least another eight still to be removed. The captured goats have no tags, making it impossible to identify owners.”

Mr Maher told The Echo he was frustrated with the response.

“The issue of animal welfare is a city-wide problem,” he said. “The response says a contractor is appointed, yet we still have eight goats grazing on the North Ring Rd. This is a major artery road for the city, the home of a fire station, a council depot, and thousands of residents. Pedestrians have to cross the busy North Ring Rd to avoid these goats. These goats roam freely around the place, an accident waiting to happen. The bottom line here is animals are being mistreated and the bureaucracy is allowing it to happen.

“Nine goats have been rescued to date and Cork City Council must act now to rescue the remaining goats before a serious accident occurs or the goats die from mistreatment or by getting hit by one of the thousands of HGVs that drive through the northside each day.”

He has submitted a motion to the environmental committee seeking solutions on animal welfare across Cork city.