Courtesy of Danielle Langloism, Wikipedia CCLGoats in Peril
The Weblog Agricultural Diversity says the goats of Middle Percy Island, Australia, are in danger of being culled because the goat herders’ lease is about to expire.
The goats have lived on the island off the coast of Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef for 200 years, since being released to provision passing sailors.
Thousands of yachters who drop anchor at Middle Percy still buy the expertly tanned goat skins and stock up on goat stew prepared by the local people who hold the lease on the island.
That lease, however, is due to expire and the land revert to control of Queensland’s Department of Environment and Resource Management, which apparently has threatened to cull the goats, or most of them.
“These goats need to be protected or domesticated — not annihilated” one island source said. “They have lived in the tropics and have foraged for themselves for two centuries.”
“The genetic heritage among this small goat population which, by its very isolation, could potentially be crucial in providing genetic traits to goat populations in tropical Third world countries,” the source said.
