Time to cull feral goats on GKI?
At least one councillor thinks so.
Rockhampton
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PROBLEMS with the feral goat population on Great Keppel Island have surfaced again with a meeting to be held to discuss control strategies.
Goats have been on the island for a long time and they have been the subject of much community debate.
A number of different control methods have been tried over the years.
The issue was raised at a Livingstone Shire Council meeting this week after the councillor who heads up the environment portfolio was inundated with concerns from the community.
“Since I was elected as councillor for Livingstone Shire Council, never in my wildest dreams have I ever thought I’d be dreaming about goats of an evening,” Cr Friend told her colleagues on Tuesday.
“And I am.
“Through the (election) campaign, and through my three-and-a-half months of tenure thus far, I’ve heard nothing but goats, goats, goats.
“Moving forward it is in the best interest for council, and stakeholders, and the community, that we sit down and have this steering committee.
“Some people may not be happy with the outcome, some may be delighted, but the issue is that this has been ongoing for decades and we need to at least try to come to some sort of compromise.”
Cr Friend said the steering committee would help the council to understand the issues “on both sides”.
“So that we can form that compromise and try to stop the feral goats on Great Keppel Island from destroying the environment.”
Talking about the issue, Cr Adam Belot said taking the goats off the island may improve the environment but the vegetation and the fire risk would increase.
“You would need to have other measures in place to counteract that isolated decision,” he said.
“It’s not as simple and straight forward as it seems.”
Cr Glenda Mather responded to Cr Belot’s “counteract” comment.
“You’ve got to remember, if we don’t take some of the goats away, we’re going to have to have another action that actually restores the (dune) vegetation,” Cr Mather said.
“Because if the goats in their numbers, and they breed well, if they’re allowed to stay, you’re going to need a group of people restoring the dunes from time to time.
“That’s manpower.
“The trick is here, striking the balance.
“And I think this might be a periodic culling of goats from time to time.”
Cr Mather had a warning if nothing was done.
“They (goats) serve a purpose but we’ve got to strike that balance.
“Otherwise, if we don’t get that right, we’re in a lot of trouble.”
Councillors resolved to establish a combined stakeholder meeting to discuss the issue.
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