Controversy over the rescue of a goat in the Risco de Famara

The Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity criticizes that the presence of this species "introduced by man" and "feral in the natural environment, becomes an invasive exotic species" and endangers the endemic flora of Lanzarote

January 27 2023 (08:55 WET)
Updated in April 18 2023 (14:08 WET)
A goat trapped in the Famara Cliff is rescued
A goat trapped in the Famara Cliff is rescued

The Emergency Consortium rescued a goat last Saturday that had been trapped in the Risco de Famara. The controversy has arisen because the troops returned to release the animal in the place; a zone "unique in the world, where a great part of the something more than 700 species of plants known to date in Lanzarote is concentrated. Among them, the majority of the twenty endemic species and subspecies of the island grow in this protected space, that is to say, species that are exclusive and cannot be found in a natural way in any other place of the world", they indicate from the Association for the Conservation of Canarian Biodiversity (ACBC).

"Many of these botanical jewels are currently on the verge of extinction, threatened by various factors, among which, due to its importance, precisely the presence of feral goats. So much so, that many of these species are protected by different European, national and regional regulations, which forces public authorities to ensure their conservation", explain from ACBC

Jarilla de Guinate, small endemic shrub of Lanzarote, where it lives entrenched in the Risco de Famara
Jarilla de Guinate, small endemic shrub of Lanzarote, where it lives entrenched in the Risco de Famara

ACBC highlights that the goat is a "species introduced by man for production purposes that plays an indisputable role in the economy of the islands, but must be stabled and subjected to appropriate health controls. However, feral in the natural environment, it becomes an invasive exotic species on which the competent administrations must adopt management, control and possible eradication measures. Its effects are notorious, not only because of the herbivory they exert on plant species, but because the constant transit and trampling of these animals favor erosion and the loss of the scarce fertile soil of the platforms of the cliff".

"It is absolutely unacceptable that public resources are allocated and human life is put at risk, in an intervention aimed at "rescuing" and releasing in a protected natural space, a specimen of a species that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included in the list of the 100 most harmful invasive exotic species in the world. Difficult to fit such an attack against the conservation of biodiversity", criticizes ACBC.

"From here, we demand that the competent administrations comply with their obligations in environmental matters and proceed, without delay, to the elimination of feral livestock in the Risco de Famara as a necessary measure for the conservation of protected flora species that are unique jewels in the world"; conclude from ACBC.

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