Although the Irish climate is known for its inopportune rain and omnipresent humidity, Ireland has never seen as many fires as in recent years… Killarney National Park in particular paid the price in 2021 during a terrible fire that ravaged more than 6,000 hectares… Not to mention the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland, which suffered a terrible fire the same year that took firefighters over 3 days to contain!
In view of the damage, Ireland has decided to take preventive measures… Starting with the Howth region in County Dublin, where she decided to use a rather surprising and natural means of fire prevention: Irish goats!
Every year, Ireland’s wildest corners are closely watched. The culprit is gorse, an extremely dry flowering plant that colonizes most of Ireland’s wide open spaces.
Though beautiful, they can easily catch fire and burn down entire acres! Many Irish people or tourists accidentally set them ablaze, either by barbecuing or by simply trying to clear the undergrowth. But the consequences are far too serious for the government to confine itself to simply raising awareness.
The municipality of Howth, near Dublin, has come up with a highly original idea: to deploy herds of Irish goats in the area.
Their mission? Get them to graze on gorse, but also rely on their natural ability to clear undergrowth. With their horns, they tend to easily discipline these plants, making it easier for firefighters to get to them in the event of a fire.
It’s a real clean-up operation, thanks to these goats. A unique way to reduce your carbon footprint!
For each herd, the goats are left to roam freely. No shepherd. No dog. These little beasts then live out their lives for over a month, equipped only with a GPS chip. If they ever stray from their perimeter, their chip reenters, prompting them to return to their original positions.
Trained to exercise, the goats then return to their area with no problem, gorging themselves on greenery and gorse, disciplining nature without too much impact.
So far, the system seems to be a real success. So much so that other regions of Ireland may well adopt the same solution, by setting up herds in at-risk areas.
Brilliant, isn’t it?
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