A herd of mischievous goats have been given the freedom of Llandudno after the local council ruled they cannot be legally contained.
Conwy Council ruled that despite the goats' unruly behaviour, it is landowners' responsibility to protect their properties from the roaming Great Orme Goats.
A report released by the council said that they would not confine the Kashmir goats using fencing for fear it will become solely responsible for the animals’ welfare.
The report also detailed how shooting had in the past been considered as a way to control the goats in the 1990s.
According to North Wales Live the report reads: “A working group, comprising Council officers, Countryside Council for Wales, Mostyn Estates, and a local veterinary surgeon, considered the various options.
“It recommended that the population of feral goats be controlled through shooting individual animals, targeting ones that were sick, injured, or very elderly. This recommendation was supported by the Great Orme Country Park Working Party and Aberconwy Borough Council’s planning committee but was overturned at full council following a large public demonstration at Bodlondeb.”
Recently, residents had urged to council to find a way to clampdown on the animals wandering ways, but landowners were told it was their responsibility to protect themselves and their homes. It comes after claims the Kashmiri goats have been devouring garden hedges, munching flowers, running wild in the streets and even fighting in supermarket car parks.
They’ve even popped into a local hotel, queued up outside a care home at dinner time hoping for a meal, and visited the local service station, as well as eating any vegetation they can get their teeth.
The goats have roamed the town and its accompanying mountains for over 100 years but shot to fame in 2020 when they took over the streets emptied by the coronavirus lockdown.
More than 200 of the goats regularly leave the Great Orme headland to wander down into the streets.
The report reads: “The goats of Llandudno have roamed in a wild state for over 100 years and were originally a gift to Lord Mostyn from Queen Victoria. Although once in the ownership of Lord Mostyn, the goats have reverted to a wild state and are therefore now regarded as wild animals.
"No one person or organisation is legally responsible for the goat populations of Llandudno, and they may only become someone’s property if they are ‘confined’.
“As the goats are feral animals, it is therefore not the council’s legal responsibility to keep the goats on the Great Orme by way of fencing or ‘containment’. If damage is being caused to adjoining properties, the onus is therefore on those property owners to keep the goats out.
"A landowner has a legal entitlement to act on behalf of an animal’s welfare if a wild animal is in distress whilst on their land.”
