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'They'll wipe everything out': The feral goats overtaking a town


Feral goats have invaded a community near Adelaide in massive numbers, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Residents of Castambul in the Adelaide Hills have complained about the animals’ bleating and the smell wafting onto their properties.

“The bucks particularly, they’re so smelly, so smelly,” resident Debbie Brenton told Today Tonight.

“You can smell them when they’re close by.”

Feral goats have invaded Castambul near Adelaide in massive numbers and have even started stripping trees. Photo: Today Tonight
Feral goats have invaded a community near Adelaide in massive numbers and have even started stripping trees. Photo: Today Tonight

The goats eat fruit from the trees and Ms Brenton said they’ll basically consume “anything that’s green.”

“The neighbour’s got a lot of vines, and they strip not only the leaves off them but they strip the fruit,” she said.

A local vineyard in Castambul in the Adelaide Hills was even left struggling one season after the animals stripped $10,000 worth of grapes set to go into chardonnay.

“That’s happened over several seasons. The goats have got into the vineyard and stripped the young shoots and you lose that year’s and the following year’s crop.”

South Australian residents have complained about the animals’ bleating and the smell wafting onto their properties. Photo: Today Tonight
South Australian residents have complained about the animals’ bleating and the smell wafting onto their properties. Photo: Today Tonight

Landowners revert to shooting and trapping goats

Viticulturist Bob Holloway said the goats cause a huge environmental impact with most of the vegetation in the area being wiped out.

“They’ll then graze the trees up until two or three metres off the ground,” he said.

Landowners have started shooting and trapping the animals as they are considered the responsibility of the landowners.

The herds move between huge conservation reserves, state forests and onto private property.

“They breed like wildfire – just keep breeding,” Ms Brenton said.

Resident Don Dowland said he’s never seen the goat infestation as bad as it is now. Photo: Today Tonight
Resident Don Dowland said he’s never seen the goat infestation as bad as it is now. Photo: Today Tonight