The Old Irish Goat is in the midst of an “extinction crisis”, partly fuelled by tourists hunting it for fun. 

Goats are not native to Ireland but were brought over thousands of years ago by early settlers. 

Currently, there are only a small number of the species left and Old Irish Goat Society volunteer Sinéad Keane is appalled people are still allowed to hunt them. 

“This particular market wants to shoot rare animals,” she told Moncrieff. 

“They want the horns of a rare animal - that has a higher value in that market.” 

Mostly, hunters come from the United States or Eastern Europe and some pay thousands of euros for the pleasure of shooting the endangered species. 

“It’s not an illegal activity,” she said. 

“Today, you can go out and there are no quotas, you don’t need a hunting licence. 

“There’s no season, there’s nothing; they’re taking advantage of an absence of legislation… [despite the fact] a situation where we’ve an extinction crisis.”

Goats on Howth Head. Image: Orla Murray/Coalesce

Ms Keane said the Old Irish Goat has a “worrying future” ahead of it and volunteers fear there is little they can do. 

“Unfortunately, in its wild setting here in Ireland… there is no legal status for the old Irish goat,” she said. 

“It’s an animal that falls between the cracks; it is viewed and classified as a domesticated animal - even though it’s a primitive domestic animal, it came in with the neolithic settlers. 

“I think that reductive type of classification is part of the reason it falls into the situation that it’s in now.”

Goats on Howth Head. Image: Orla Murray/Coalesce

Ms Keane describes the Old Irish Goat Society’s volunteers as being “very driven” but they would like the State to do more to help them. 

“All we’ve really succeeded in doing is creating a second chance for the old Irish goat here,” she said. 

“It’s a chance that can still be squandered; without the State becoming involved in its protection, we would be worried that that would ultimately be the case.”

There are an estimated 170 Old Irish Goats left.

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Main image: Howth Head goats. Picture by Fingal County Council.