Save The Hill Billy

Pic: Eamonn McCarthy

ocal environmental and historical campaigner Yasmin Fortune has launched a petition to save the Old Irish Goat.

Following our recent report of guided sheep and goat hunting in the Wicklow Hills, there has also been a call for such sports to be banned.

Pic: Eamonn McCarthy

Over to Yasmin…

My petition to save the last 300 pure breed critically-endangered Old Irish Goats in the wild from being hunted and cross-bred to the point of no return and award the 5,000-year-old breed protection under Irish Native Rare Breed Status [achieved in July 2022 – Ed] has over 9000 signatures, and has been picked up by national media.

The Department of Agriculture is considering how best to proceed to protect this ancient relic of our past. As one of the world’s oldest goat breeds their ancient DNA is important for goat populations worldwide. For millennia they offered food security to the people of Ireland – through the Bronze Age and the famine – providing meat and milk. Our most ancient pre-Christian stories attest to their importance in Ancient Ireland, as do the numerous ancient placenames in Ireland named in their honour.

Medieval Irish medical texts document numerous medicinal remedies combining goats milk and a variety of herbs to cure ailments. This beautiful goat is a hugely important part of our Irish Heritage. The Department of Agriculture estimate numbers at around 300.

Check out the amazing work of the Old Irish Goat Society here, and please sign our petition here.