Marksman culls park's wild goats

A professional marksman shot 38 goats in the three-day cull

A cull of some of the wild goats roaming the slopes and forests of Snowdonia has been carried out.

Padarn Country Park, near Llanberis, was closed to the public for three days while a marksman employed by Gwynedd Council targeted 38 feral animals.

The goats, whose lineage date back almost to the Ice Age, are blamed for causing damage to saplings in protected woodland and to residents' gardens.

Gwynedd Council said the goats culled did not have Snowdonia's "pure breed".

The wild goats are considered to be British "primitives" as they can be traced back in an unbroken lines some 10,000 years to when they were introduced by Neolithic farmers.

The most recent counts now show that there are at least 550, plus a further 500 in the Rhinogau and Maentwrog area Countryside Council for Wales

Their isolation has kept the herds largely free of interbreeding.

Gwynedd Council said Padarn park, close to Snowdon, had an estimated feral population of 120.

It said the marksman had taken 38 animals from the herd, which did not have as pure a lineage as other wild goat herds.

Danger

A spokesperson said: "Feral goats are an integral part of the landscape of the area and are of a high cultural and aesthetic value, and we are determined to maintain a population of feral goats in the area.

"But we need to deal with their growing numbers with a planned and forward-looking strategy."

A group drawing up policy on controlling the feral goat population includes the Countryside Council for Wales, Snowdonia National Park, the National Trust and the Welsh Assembly Government.

A meeting in August decided on a further cull in the Rhinogydd area above Harlech in the autumn of 2007.

The meeting heard farmers were worried about damage done by the animals and local residents by the impact on their gardens and the danger the goats posed on the roads.

The Countryside Council for Wales said shooting was the preferred option for reducing the feral goat population, where exclusion via fencing, live capture and use of contraceptive methods were not feasible.

In a statement, the CCW said: "In the 1960s, the number of goats in northern Snowdonia was estimated at about 120, the most recent counts now show that there are at least 550, plus a further 500 in the Rhinogau and Maentwrog area."