Tethering gets SPCA's goat

By CLAIRE TREVETT

A goat chowing down on grass, tied to a cute little house, is a familiar sight along country roads in New Zealand.

However, Royal New Zealand SPCA acting chief executive Jenny Prattley has warned that goats being used as lawnmowers for grass verges had a lonely, hungry, cold existence.

"It's a myth that goats will eat just about anything. They're actually very fussy eaters and a small area of dusty, oily grass by the roadside just won't suit their fastidious palate for very long."

She said people who wanted the best for their goats should untether them and put them in a paddock with other goats, as they were sociable animals.

However, a Northland goat owner who did not want to be named believes the SPCA is overreacting and tethering goats should not be an indictment on an owner.

She had 12 goats tethered on a steep bank where the lawnmower could not reach. She said none suffered, yet every summer an SPCA inspector would visit after complaints, which was "frustrating".

"It's no big deal. It's quite commonplace up here. Quite a few people have a pet goat and they're tethered because we have larger sections and have got to keep the grass down."

Her goats were well cared for, protected from the weather and had their hooves trimmed.

Although the SPCA had said goats needed water, she said they got enough from the grass. When she had put water out the goats would ignore it or kick it over.

"The oldest would be about 14. They have been tethered for years so they know no better. They show no signs of being unhappy ... They are very intelligent and much loved.

"I can understand people's points of views, that animals are born to roam around, but we couldn't have a sheep tethered or donkeys because they're not nice and we don't want people walking through donkey poo. I love them all to pieces."

However, Kate Brennan, who owns Spike and the three-legged Yoda on her two-hectare lifestyle block near Cambridge, said she could never tether a goat.

Originally from England, she said tethering goats on the roadside seemed to be a uniquely New Zealand approach to keeping the grass down.

"It seems to be the easy option and cheap, because people just give them away."

Yoda, who had four legs until he ran under a horse when he was a kid, was a house goat.

He would sit in Ms Brennan's office watching her work, bleated when he wanted to get out to go to the toilet and at night he would lie in front of the fire with the cats.

When Spike came along, both goats were moved into a paddock with dog kennels for shelter. Both were fed on lucerne chaff with extra minerals.

She said she was laughed at for the way she looked after her animals. "People think we are just typical soft lifestylers, who don't know about their animals, which is not true. We look after them very well."

Ms Prattley said with winter coming goats should have a warm weatherproof shelter. Unlike sheep, they did not produce waterproofing lanolin and did not have the layer of fat needed for warmth.

Bay of Islands SPCA inspector Jim Boyd said there had been only one case of goat neglect that he could remember in Northland.