Feral goats in Australia facts for kids
Wild goats are a type of animal that doesn't belong in Australia. They first arrived in the 1700s with European settlers. These wild goats came from pet goats that escaped. Today, you can find wild goats all over Australia. They cause problems for farms and nature by eating too much grass and competing with farm animals and native marsupials.
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How Wild Goats Came to Australia
Wild goats arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788. Later, in the 1800s, special goats like cashmere and angora were brought from Asia. People wanted to start an industry to make fabric from goat hair. But when this industry failed in the 1920s, some of these goats were set free.
Goats also traveled around Australia with settlers, railway builders, and miners. More recently, some wild goat groups started from goats used to clear weeds in forests and on farms. So, the wild goats you see in Australia today are a mix of all these different types.
Where Do Wild Goats Live?
You can find wild goats in every state in Australia, and also in the Australian Capital Territory. They are rare in the Northern Territory. They are most common in dry and semi-dry areas, where they cause big problems for farms and the environment. People have even made these areas better for goats by providing water and controlling animals that might hunt them. This was done to help sheep farming.
Wild goats also live on many Australian islands. Some of these islands are very important for nature, like Lord Howe Island. On most islands, wild goats are seen as pests. However, on North Goulburn Island, wild goats are used for hunting trips and as food by the Aboriginal owners.
Wild goats have been removed from several islands, including Faure Island and Bernier Island. It's now harder for new groups of wild goats to start on islands. For example, in South Australia, a law from 1986 stops people from keeping or releasing goats on almost all islands there. Goats don't usually swim unless they really have to, but it's not impossible for them to swim to find fresh water.
In 1993, there were about 2.6 million wild goats in Australia. But this number changes a lot. The number goes up and down depending on how much food and water is available, how many are hunted by other animals or people, and how many die from diseases or poisonous plants.
How Do Wild Goats Affect Money?
Wild goats cause an estimated loss of about $25 million every year. This includes about $17.8 million lost because farm animals produce less, $6 million because of the risk of diseases, and $1.2 million spent by the government to control goats. This number doesn't even include the cost of damage to the environment, like soil erosion.
On the good side, selling wild goats is an industry worth about $29 million each year. Many farmers in Australia now see catching and selling wild goats as an important part of their business. Most of these goats are sold for meat to other countries. Some live wild goats are also sold. Goat skin is another product. Recently, wild goats have been bred with South African Boer goats to create bigger animals for export.
Wild goats are also used to control weeds like blackberry and thistles. They are especially helpful for clearing lots of weeds in places that are hard to reach. Goats prefer to eat these weeds over other plants that farm animals eat. Controlling these weeds can be expensive, and herbicides (weed killers) are not always safe to use.
How Do Wild Goats Affect Nature?
While there aren't many clear examples of wild goats causing huge damage on their own, they do harm plants, soil, and native animals. This happens especially in areas where there are already too many animals eating the plants. Wild goats can remove the protective layer of plants on the soil. Their hooves can also break up the soil. This leads to wind erosion during dry times and water erosion during rain storms. It can also cause landslides in steep areas. More erosion can seriously harm biodiversity over time by removing soil and nutrients.
Wild goats can also harm plants by eating them, especially young ones. They can kill established plants by eating all their leaves. They also stop plants from growing back by eating seeds and young plants. Wild goats are especially damaging to island ecosystems. Their overgrazing often harms the whole ecosystem and leads to biodiversity loss.
Studies have also shown that when wild goats are removed, some introduced grasses decrease, and native plants increase. However, some introduced grasses that promote fires might also increase. So, even though it's hard to see the first damage from goats, removing them might sometimes lead to more fires and more unwanted grasses.
Impact on Native Animals
Wild goats affect Australia's native animals by competing for food, water, and shelter. This usually reduces the number of different animals in an area. Wild goats compete with farm animals for food and water, especially when there isn't much food around. When it comes to water, wild goats can even scare away other animals. They can lower water levels in rock holes so much that other animals can't reach the water. They can also cause animals to fall in, drown, and make the water dirty. Goat droppings can build up around waterholes and springs, which can pollute the water.
Wild goats also compete with native animals for shelter, especially in rock caves. They have even been seen eating small insects, but it's not known if this is on purpose.
Goats are a serious threat to yellow-footed rock-wallabys. This is because both animals eat similar foods and live in similar places. After a drought in 1983, rock-wallaby numbers went up in an area where goats had been removed. But in a nearby area where many goats were still present, the rock-wallaby numbers did not recover. Wild goats have also been linked to the decline of brush-tailed rock-wallabies in South Australia.
When there are many wild goats, they put extra pressure on the food supply. This means there is less food for other animals. Also, goats eat a wider variety of plants than sheep, cattle, and kangaroos. They can eat many shrubs and trees that these other animals don't like. This wider diet might help goats survive longer during droughts than other animals. This means they can have a bigger impact on the shared food supply. If there are many goats, especially during a drought, they can greatly reduce the amount of plants, leading to more land damage and making it harder for plants to grow back.
Goats can also carry diseases that could harm Australia's farm animals, like foot-and-mouth disease. If such a disease entered Australia, it would be very hard and expensive to get rid of it because of the wild goat populations.
Wild goats also have an indirect effect on native animals by changing the plants and soil. These changes harm some native animals, but they can help a few, like termites and decomposers, which eat goat droppings.
What Can We Do About Wild Goats?
How wild goats are managed changes depending on whether they are seen as a pest or a resource, and what the laws say in different states. Most land managers see wild goats as pests. This has led to efforts to control or remove them. Some laws say exactly how wild goats should be managed, while others just call them pests and let landowners decide what to do. State and territory governments help with laws, advice, and sometimes money for controlling wild goats. They also manage goats on land they own.
In New South Wales, there isn't one main plan for controlling wild goats right now. A group of farmers and government agencies suggested a plan to manage goats as part of a bigger program. This program aims to reduce the harm goats cause to farms and nature. Currently, goats are often rounded up and sold for meat. In 1996, wild goats lived in about 11,400 square kilometers of conservation areas in New South Wales.
In Queensland, wild goats are considered pests under a 1985 law. A big drought in Queensland made farmers realize they needed to reduce the total number of animals eating plants. The Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage tries to remove goats from national parks and some islands.
The Australian Capital Territory Parks and Conservation Service manages wild goats when they enter national parks and reserves. Wild goats are not officially pests on private land there, so landowners decide how to manage them.
In South Australia, it is against the law to release goats into the wild. Groups that work on soil conservation are trying to reduce goat damage by encouraging and helping with goat control.
In the Northern Territory, goats are considered farm animals under a 1994 law, and there is no general plan for wild goats. Wild goats are not listed as pests in their wildlife law, but this might change. Because there's no clear rule, people have brought goats to areas that didn't have them before, including islands.
In Tasmania, goats that don't have owners are called wild goats. They can be controlled if they cause problems with animal diseases. A survey in 1991 led to a plan to reduce the threat from wild goats. By June 1995, 55 out of 136 known groups of wild goats had been removed. Some management is done by hunters. The government also has a program to control wild goats on Crown land using the "Judas goat" technique (using a tagged goat to find the herd) and shooting from helicopters.
In Victoria, wild goats are listed as "Established Pest Animals" under a 1994 law. All landowners must take steps to control them. Wild goat groups in Victoria seem to be small and separate.
Goats are common in Western Australia, where they are seen as pests on rangelands. A 1976 law explains what landowners must do to deal with them and stop them from spreading. The main reason people try to manage goats in this state is because other land managers encourage it. This leads to communities working together to manage goats. Laws are only used as a last resort. Western Australia has a program to manage most wild goat herds. This involves rounding up goats to sell them first, then using aerial and ground shooting to kill the remaining animals. Shooting from helicopters has been very successful in dry areas and is now used in other parts of Australia too.
Some farmers have also suggested raising wild goats for cashmere and meat in Western Australia's semi-dry areas. But recent tests show that this isn't profitable because it costs too much and doesn't produce enough hair. In the Australian wild, wild goats have predators like dingoes, saltwater crocodiles, feral pigs, and wedge-tailed eagles that eat sick adult goats or young goats (kids).
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