Plan to manage Llandudno’s ‘feral’ Kashmiri goats adopted

Richard Evans, Local democracy reporter

A plan to manage and monitor Llandudno’s herd of ‘feral’ Kashmiri goats has been adopted by Conwy’s cabinet.

At a meeting at Bodlondeb, councillors voted in favour of adopting the plan that will see goat numbers controlled by monitoring, herding, contraception, and relocation.

The council will work with Llandudno Town Council, Mostyn Estates, Natural Resources Wales, and the RSPCA to look after the herd whilst attempting to help the animals coexist with the community.

Councillors heard how the goats had ventured down from the Great Orme during the height of the pandemic, causing road safety issues and damage to gardens and property.

Introducing the report, which was discussed by the council’s scrutiny committee last month, Conwy’s leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey explained Conwy couldn’t control the goats with fences as feral animals then became the responsibility of the landowner.

Beloved

Cllr McCoubrey said, “Members will be very aware of that they (the goats) had international stardom during the lockdown when the goats came into the town.

“They are a much beloved symbol of the town, but there are lots of consequences in terms of management, in terms of road safety, in terms of eating people’s bushes and being a nuisance in some of the areas they wouldn’t normally be.

“I think the key thing to note is that they are feral animals and as such they are not owned or the legal responsibility of any person or organisation.”

Cllr Chris Cater agreed and said it was important the partnership organisations worked together.

“I think it is the partnership working that is going to be so important because although Mostyn Estates has a lot of facilities and help in the management, it (the Great Orme) is the country park, so we are involved, and we have a warden up there, but if the goats decide to wander off the Great Orme and go through the town and end up in Craig y Don, then they are not in the country park any longer, so police get involved when there are obstructions and incidents on the highways, and the RSPCA gets involved because it becomes a welfare issue,” he said.

Uplifting

He added: “We are very fortunate in that, I think, I can say definitely that the people of Llandudno really value the Kashmiri herd, and they want to see its future secure. It was very uplifting to have them around the town, giving great interest and joy to us all when we were in lockdown, so we certainly want to see their future is secure, and I think this report is excellent.

“It goes through the history, the current situation, how we can’t really contain them because if we put a fence around them, then they would be considered ours, and we would be responsible for them, and they wouldn’t be the wild goats, and they wouldn’t be the characteristic herd we know at the moment.”

Last month Conwy’s environmental strategy officer revealed there are currently 153 goats in Llandudno, including those on the Great Orme and a small number grazing in the Nant y Gamar Road area of Craig y Don.

But the report, the Llandudno Feral Goats Management Plan, says it is landowners’ responsibility to protect their land from goats and not that of the council.