Feral goats running wild in suburbs of Queenstown

Feral goats are running wild in the tourist mecca of Queenstown.

Builder Jack Hope today shot a video of a herd of 14 goats which had come down from Ben Lomond Station behind the suburb of Fernhill. Several goats are seen rummaging through a property on Lochy Rd before joining the main herd up the road.

They are running rampant all over Ben Lomond to the point that Queenstown has signs of goats on the road between Queenstown and Arrowtown, Hope said.

No word of a lie I have seen more goats in Queenstown than I have seen rabbits in Canterbury

Jack Hope, hunter

He said a resident told him the goats had come down from the hills to the suburbs because it was rubbish day.

Hope said when he moved to Queenstown four years ago there were one or two goats in the hills. As a hunter, he now came across about 150 goats in the morning in the hills behind Queenstown.

"No word of a lie I have seen more goats in Queenstown than I have seen rabbits in Canterbury."

Queenstown District Council spokesman Jimmy Sygrove said the goats came down off the hills looking for food when the weather got colder.

"There is not a lot we can do about controlling goats in suburban areas because of the nature of goat control."

Last year the council carried out a controlled cull involving helicopter and ground shooters that killed hundreds of goats.

Sygrove said the council has also put up signs of goats on Gorge Rd between Queenstown and Arthurs Point as a warning for motorists.

Queenstown was "certainly not" overrun by goats, Sygrove said.

"This has been an issue that has been going on for a long time and we are more on top of it than we have been in past decades."