Great Orme goats invade deeper into Llandudno

This year the goats and their new kids, many more than normal, have roamed further into the town because the lockdown has reduced both traffic and the number of people on the streets.

The world wide publicity of their wanderings has generated has helped raise the town’s profile internationally.

Cllr Greg Robbins, a Llandudno representative on Conwy County Borough Council said: “Obviously the goats in Llandudno have been a fantastic attraction during the lockdown and attracted worldwide attention. However, there is concern at the distance some of them are wandering. There is one more daring group which seems to be wandering further than others.

“These are feral animals and all the stakeholders in Llandudno are looking at possible ways of assisting their return to the Great Orme.”

Another Llandudno cllr, Louise Emery, said: “I think the problem this time of the year the goats always come down from the Great Orme and tend to stay in the Abbey Road area and do damage in people’s gardens, but they usually go back to the Great Orme when spring comes.

“The only difference is this year is because the Country Park was unable to do the contraceptive programme last summer, there has been an abundance of kids born and now there are more goats than normal.

“Because the town has been quiet the goats have been emboldened to wander wider afield in the town. They are the talk of the town at the moment.

“We are hopeful for the contraceptive vaccinations this summer and are very confident the goats will return to the Great Orme as the weather warms up and the spring grasses grow.”

Ian Jones, Head Master Ysgol San Sior, which lies at the base of the Great Orme added: “The goats are an intrinsic part of the town and as we redesign our school logo many children suggested the goat should feature on it. As a school we are so fortunate with our location by the Great Orme so it forms an important part of our curriculum and one can’t study the Great Orme without studying the goats. They are beautiful creatures and are very adaptable, if not a little smelly.

It is true that they do cause lots of damage to the school gardens and the situation has certainly got worse over the years. The goats have always entered the school premises without causing any undue attention or damage. Now they visit much more regularly, stay for longer and cause lots of damage. It also seems that there are many more of them.

“We now struggle to get a crop of apples from the apple trees in our orchard as the goats have destroyed the trees, stripping the trees of their bark or just destroying them entirely. I remember one year coming into school and a goat had jumped through the roof of the plastic greenhouse we had built, fortunately it wasn’t injured. Recently we planted two large specimen eucalyptus trees on the field together with 12 silver birches on a Sunday. By Monday the goats had munched their way through the eucalyptus. One would have thought the eucalyptus oils would have deterred them, but sadly not. We have renamed them Koala Goats.

“The school field is surrounded by a wall. Its maintenance is a drain on the school finances but we just don’t know how to stop them entering. It is my understanding that goats can jump over fences five feet in height.

“There is no question in my mind that the goats are an intrinsic part of our town and if I understand correctly they graze on parts of the slope that can’t be reached by the sheep thus increasing the diversity of the flora.”