![\"two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/00241cbf-614.jpg\"\/)
\nOfficials are considering drastic action to reduce the number of goats on the island<\/p>\n
The tiny Caribbean island of Terre-de-Haut boasts pristine turquoise waters and deserted coves. It also has goats, hundreds of them.<\/p>\n
There are as many goats as humans on the island and, while they charm the tourists as they roam on the beaches and graze in the gardens, there is a darker side to this uncontrolled feral herd.<\/p>\n
They ravage protected areas, munch through vegetation and destroy the habitats of other animals – some of which are endangered and endemic to Terre-de-Haut and other islands in Les Saintes archipelago.<\/p>\n
Officials on the island chain, which is part of the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, are now considering drastic action.<\/p>\n
The animals could be shunted into designated grazing areas then, after health checks are carried out, they could be used for meat.<\/p>\n
Marie Robert of the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), a government body, said the situation was alarming.<\/p>\n
“On Terre-de-Haut alone, the herd is estimated at least one goat per inhabitant, or about 1,500,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They overconsume native plants, leaving all the space to more resilient invasive exotic species.”<\/p>\n
Species at risk<\/p>\n
At Le Chameau, the highest point on Terre-de-Haut, the vegetation is devastated – trees stripped bare and branches gnawed away.<\/p>\n
Robert said the destruction wrought by the goats raised the risk of landslides and threatened animal biodiversity.<\/p>\n
Several endemic species are particularly at risk, including the Terre-de-Haut racer snake, the Guadeloupe skink and a tiny brightly coloured gecko called Les Saintes Sphaerodactylus.<\/p>\n
\nOfficials are considering drastic action to reduce the number of goats on the island<\/p>\n
It’s feared that these species, already weakened by rats and stray dogs and cats, could disappear entirely.<\/p>\n
The OFB is tapping the EU’s fund for environmental projects, the LIFE programme, to help.<\/p>\n
It has an estimated budget of \u20ac10 million to protect reptiles in Guadeloupe and the nearby islands of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy, which face similar pressures.<\/p>\n
“It involves eradicating species like rats, but also bringing goats under control,” said Philippe De Proft, a coastal warden in Les Saintes for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n
A new scourge?<\/p>\n
The goats were brought over by humans and were used for many years as the only local source of meat.<\/p>\n
But tourism has long since displaced livestock farming as a way of life.<\/p>\n
The goats, however, have not stopped reproducing – a female can give birth to two or three kids several times a year.<\/p>\n
The authorities are looking to Saint-Barthelemy for inspiration.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/00241cbd-614.jpg\"\/)
\nTerre-de-Haut boasts pristine turquoise waters and deserted coves<\/p>\n
Goats are already being captured there and confined to grazing areas.<\/p>\n
Officials have given an exemption from the usual rules to allow the animals to be used for meat.<\/p>\n
“Even wild adults can be put to good use,” explained Rudi Laplace, whose Island Nature Experience group organised the capture on Saint-Barthelemy.<\/p>\n
Officials on Les Saintes are keen to follow the example, and they cannot act quickly enough as a new scourge could be on the way.<\/p>\n
Sheep abandoned by a farmer are beginning to proliferate – from a single pair, the flock has now grown to 25 animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The tiny Caribbean island of Terre-de-Haut boasts pristine turquoise waters and deserted coves. It also has goats, hundreds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-364141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}