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Home / The Country

Covid 19 coronavirus: Wild goats take over deserted Welsh town during lockdown

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31 Mar, 2020 06:07 PM2 mins to read

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A herd of goats walk the quiet streets in Llandudno, north Wales. Photos / Pete Byrne, PA via AP

A herd of goats walk the quiet streets in Llandudno, north Wales. Photos / Pete Byrne, PA via AP

Un-baaaaa-lievable: This wild bunch is completely ignoring rules on social distancing.

With humans sheltering indoors to escape the new coronavirus, mountain goats are taking advantage of the peace and space to roam in frisky clumps through the streets of Llandudno, a town in North Wales.

Goats on a sightseeing tour of the quiet streets.
Goats on a sightseeing tour of the quiet streets.


Andrew Stuart, a video producer
for the Manchester Evening News, has been posting videos of the furry adventurers on his Twitter feed and they are racking up hundreds of thousands of views.

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He said the goats normally keep largely to themselves, in a country park that butts up against Llandudno. But now emboldened by the lack of people and cars, the long-horned animals are venturing deeper into the seaside town. The UK has been in lockdown for the past week to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

A goat walks past a closed stored, near Trinity Square.
A goat walks past a closed stored, near Trinity Square.

"There's no one around at the moment, because of the lockdown, so they take their chances and go as far as they can. And they are going further and further into the town," Stuart told AP today from his parents' pub in Llandudno, where he is waiting out the pandemic.

His videos show the goats munching on people's neatly trimmed hedges and trees in front yards and loitering casually on empty streets as if they own the place.

The streets of the seaside town have been empty during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus.
The streets of the seaside town have been empty during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus.

"One of the videos on my Twitter shows that they were on a narrow side street and I was on the other side and they were scared of me. They were edging away from me. So they are still scared of people," Stuart said.

"But when there's hardly anyone around on the big streets, they are taking their chances, they are absolutely going for it. And I think because it's so quiet, and there's hardly anyone around to scare them or anything, that they just don't really care and are eating whatever they can."

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- AP

The goats normally live in the nearby hills.
The goats normally live in the nearby hills.
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